Defense: Waco fueled McVeigh's anti-government passion

June 11, 1997
Web posted at: 12:08 a.m. EDT (0408 GMT)

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DENVER (CNN) -- Timothy McVeigh's attorneys focused Tuesday on the fiery siege at Waco, which occurred exactly two years before the Oklahoma City bombing, to explain their client's rage against the government.

Rather than refuting the government's assertion that McVeigh was motivated by Waco to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the defense tack seemed to confirm it.

"We're not using Waco as an excuse," defense attorney Richard Burr said outside court. "Waco is an event that happened that many people felt impassioned about. One of them was Tim McVeigh."

Defense attorneys called Soldier of Fortune magazine writer James Pate, who analyzed McVeigh's writing and found them full of militia movement buzzwords, patriotic passages and references to the 1993 siege. About 80 people died in the fire that destroyed the Branch Davidian compound on April 19, 1993.

Pate said his readers came away from the incident with one impression: "that there was gross misconduct and criminal acts committed by federal agents."

Jurors, who must decide whether to sentence McVeigh to death by injection or life behind bars, appeared bored and distracted by much of the testimony, often squirming in their chairs and looking at the courtroom clock.

On the witness stand, Pate said his articles never encouraged violence against the government.

"We have taken a viewpoint, undeniably. We've tried to tell both sides of the story in a context of those viewpoints. But we have always encouraged people on both sides to deal in a constructive manner with their grievances."

Federal Judge Richard Matsch read a brief statement from McVeigh to the jury. In it, McVeigh said he read Soldier of Fortune and watched videotapes blaming the government for the Branch Davidian deaths.

Jurors seem bored

The defense then showed a videotape, "Day 51: The True Story of Waco," which blamed federal agents for firing first at the Branch Davidians. McVeigh watched the tape intently.

Analysts expressed doubt that this tactic would sway jurors to spare the defendant's life. The jurors convicted the 29-year-old Gulf War veteran of all 11 counts in the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people. They are now hearing testimony to help them decide whether he should be sentenced to death.

"What they're trying to do is show the jury, 'look folks, he read these inflammatory articles. He believed them to be true and he figured he needed to do something.' How much of a mitigating factor, we really don't know. It doesn't seem like much. But it may be all the defense has."

McVeigh's sister, Jennifer, sat in the courtroom, even though she won't be testifying in the penalty phase.

"I love him," she said. "I don't want him to die."

John D. Wordsman, who supervised McVeigh when they worked at a security company in Arizona two years before the blast, recalled how the two spoke about their fears that the government would snatch away people's guns.

They even discussed explosives and how to use them.

"We would talk about how things could be blown up and how easy it is," Wordsman said.

'Fear the government that fears your gun'

Also testifying was a woman who was a student journalist in 1993 when she interviewed McVeigh outside the Branch Davidian compound, where he sold bumper stickers that read: "Fear the government that fears your gun" and "A man with a gun is a citizen, a man without a gun is a subject."

The defense is expected to wrap up its case Wednesday, with testimony from McVeigh's father, Bill. McVeigh is not scheduled to take the stand.

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

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