Friends, fellow soldiers describe McVeigh as a man of valor, contradictions

June 9, 1997
Web posted at: 11:10 p.m. EDT (0310 GMT)

In this story:

'Most professional guy'
Warning signs
'It scared me'
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DENVER (CNN) -- Trying to evoke sympathy, attorneys for Timothy McVeigh called a parade of Army acquaintances and friends who described him as an outstanding soldier, but one prone to frightening bouts of disillusionment.

"He was it, the man, the top dog of the company," said Bruce Williams, who served in a cramped Bradley fighting vehicle with McVeigh during the 1991 war against Iraq. "I just assumed he would go and do great things."

'Most professional guy'

McVeigh's former commander, Capt. Jesus Rodriguez, took the stand to describe McVeigh as an "outstanding soldier" who stayed cool under fire.

"He was the most professional guy we had in our company," said William Dilly, who served with McVeigh during the Persian Gulf War. "He took everything serious."

But the veterans acknowledged under cross examination they hadn't seen McVeigh since at least 1992 and knew nothing about his life just before the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building. And they suggested there was a dark side to the man.

McVeigh was convicted earlier this month of 11 counts in the Oklahoma blast, which killed 168. Jurors are now hearing arguments on whether he should receive the death penalty.

Other witnesses to testify for the defense included family friends who described him as loving and funny. Vicki Hodge, a childhood playmate who considered McVeigh a brother, said: "Tim has always been my friend, always will be my friend." She too hasn't seen McVeigh in years.

Warning signs

Other witnesses recounted warning signs about the defendant. Dilly said under cross-examination that McVeigh was always urging him to read "The Turner Diaries," a racist novel that begins with the bombing of a federal building. He also described how McVeigh had an odd habit of taking battlefield pictures of dead Iraqis.

"This is a side of McVeigh we haven't seen before and the jury needs to know about before making a decision," Denver attorney Scott Robinson said.

Testimony from longtime neighbor Richard Drzyzga illustrated McVeigh's maddening contradictions.

"I'm torn, confused," Drzyzga testified in a choked voice. "There is a part of me that still remembers him from a little kid. And then there's a part that sees what everybody else sees on TV and gets angry. And I can't put the two together."

'It scared me'

Drzyzga, who lived four doors down from the McVeigh family in Pendleton, New York, recalled that after McVeigh served in the Gulf War he disappeared for about a year, and then one day in 1993 sent him a videotape critical of the FBI's deadly raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas.

"It scared me," he said. "It scared me to the point that I turned to my wife and said, `What the hell has he gotten into?'"

McVeigh's sister Jennifer was back in the courtroom Monday. She waved to her brother when he came into the room sporting a fresh military style hair-cut.

When he saw his sister, McVeigh grinned broadly.

The convicted killer seems much more at ease in the courtroom, frequently smiling as witnesses describe his childhood and military career.

But his own words read in court Monday could come back to haunt him. A letter to the editor he wrote in 1989 complained about gun control legislation. In it he said the problem is juries letting rapists and murderers off the with lenient sentences.

The jury will begin considering how tough a sentence to give him later this week.

Correspondent Tony Clark and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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