McVeigh will speak his mind in court

August 13, 1997
Web posted at: 9:58 p.m. EDT (0158 GMT)

Latest developments:

Convicted bomber blasts his attorney
McVeigh 'stuck' with Jones
'It's a cultural clash'
Nichols wants trial in San Francisco

DENVER (CNN) -- Timothy McVeigh, the convicted Oklahoma City bomber, goes to court Thursday to be formally sentenced to death. He is not going quietly.

After maintaining his silence during the six-week trial, McVeigh is expected to read a statement at the sentencing. He warmed up for it Wednesday in a newspaper interview in which he charged that his attorney, Stephen Jones, "repeatedly lied" to him during the case.

"He screwed up badly, but I'm not bitter," McVeigh told the Buffalo News in an interview from his jail cell in Engleton, Colorado. "I only want him off my appeal."

Jones issued a statement saying he is legally obligated to continue representing McVeigh "until such time, if ever, the court appoints someone else."

Jones said McVeigh is "under great personal stress on the eve of the imposition of the death sentence. His reaction ... is not unique."

Jones said it would be inappropriate for him to respond to McVeigh's comments, and he described the task of representing McVeigh as "an onerous but honorable assignment."

It was Jones who announced that McVeigh plans to make a statement when he appears before U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch Thursday.

On Monday Matsch rejected McVeigh's request for a new trial.

'I found out I was stuck with him'

McVeigh was convicted in June of murder and conspiracy in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. The bombing killed 168 people and wounded 500. The same jury that convicted him also recommended the death penalty for murdering eight federal workers in the bombing.

McVeigh never testified during the guilt or penalty phases of the trial, but Jones said McVeigh will read his statement before Matsch formally imposes the sentence of death by lethal injection.

In the newspaper interview, McVeigh, a native of the Buffalo suburb of Pendleton, New York, said he would have replaced Jones even before his trial began, but "I found out I was stuck with him."

McVeigh said he was upset by a leak to a Dallas newspaper saying that he had confessed to his lawyers that he was the bomber. He said he decided to wait until after the trial to get a new lawyer, but that Jones was making it difficult.

"The truth is this guy (Jones) only succeeded in getting the death sentence, and now he doesn't want to let go," McVeigh said.

'It's a cultural clash'

"It's a cultural clash between us," McVeigh said. "Jones would be a politician and I'd be a statesman."

McVeigh also said that Jones lied to him, although he refused to be specific.

"It's for Congress, the bar, and the judiciary to investigate and discover," he said. "You would not believe some of the things that have occurred in this case."

McVeigh said he has written letters to the federal court repeatedly asking that Jones be removed.

"Jones has told me that the judge wasn't inclined to dismiss him," McVeigh said. He also complained that Jones and Matsch have met to discuss the issue without including him.

McVeigh said he wants two of his other attorneys, Richard Burr and Robert Nigh Jr., to handle his appeal. They were part of a team of 14 lawyers who worked on his case.

Nichols wants trial in San Francisco

In a related issue, the attorney for McVeigh's co-defendant, Terry Nichols, asked Matsch that his client's trial be moved from Denver to San Francisco.

Nichols, 42, is charged with conspiring with McVeigh to obtain explosive materials and build the bomb that destroyed the Murrah building.

Attorney Michael Tigar argued that coverage of McVeigh's trial by the media in Denver was so pervasive that Denver residents have adopted Oklahoma City as a "sister city." Coverage in San Francisco newspaper was dramatically less intense, he said.

Prosecutors responded that Nichols' lawyers wanted the trial held in a "liberal, anti-death penalty jurisdiction."

Matsch did not rule on the motion. Nichols' trial is to begin September 29.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Newsmaker profile: Timothy McVeigh
Video Almanac: 1995 - Oklahoma City bombing
Message Board: McVeigh retrial

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