|
| S P E C I A L | The Terry Nichols Trial |
McVeigh turns correspondent for Nichols trial
Bomber takes a swipe at Oklahoma trooper
December 18, 1997
Web posted at: 10:39 p.m. EST (0339 GMT)TULSA, Oklahoma (CNN) -- A letter to a newspaper from convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh indicates that he is watching closely the trial of Terry Nichols.
The one-page letter, written on a sheet from a yellow legal pad at the maximum security federal prison in Florence, Colorado, was sent to the editor of the Tulsa World and published Thursday.
"Re: Recent Court Testimony of Trooper Charles Hanger," wrote McVeigh, whose return address included his inmate number -- 12076-064.
Hanger is the Oklahoma state trooper who arrested McVeigh during a traffic stop 75 minutes after the bombing for which McVeigh was sentenced to death.
"Just like a good fish story, Trooper Hanger's version of my arrest keeps getting bigger and better," McVeigh wrote. "The truth, I assure you, is much less dramatic than the current tall tale."
Hanger testified in the Nichols trial on November 11 that while McVeigh was pulling his billfold from a pocket he noticed "a bulge under his left arm, and I thought that that was a weapon under his arm."
A swipe at an Oklahoma trooper
Hanger testified that after McVeigh told him he had a gun under his jacket, "I grabbed for the bulge, and I said, 'Put your hands up and turn around.'"
"I removed my pistol from my holster and stuck it to the back of his head," Hanger said.
"He said, 'My weapon is loaded,'" Hanger testified. "I said, 'So is mine.'"
McVeigh ended his four-sentence letter with a sarcastic slap at the officer who arrested him.
"Since Mr. Hanger seems to enjoy praise, I will give him this: He sure is one expert bull-------," McVeigh wrote.
The letter was written on December 3 at the federal prison where McVeigh has been held since the end of his trial while he awaits the outcome of his appeal.
A stamp on the back of the envelope said it was processed in the prison mail room on December 8.
T H E N I C H O L S T R I A L / T H E M c V E I G H T R I A L
T H E B O M B I N G / C N N S T O R I E S / L I N K S
|
Sound off on our message boards You said it... |
|
© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.