December 29, 1998
Web posted at: 7:24 p.m. EST (0024 GMT)

OKLAHOMA CITY (CNN) -- A grand jury investigating allegations of a wider conspiracy in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing will issue a report on its findings Wednesday.

District Judge Bill Burkett, the Oklahoma jurist overseeing the panel, said the 14-member panel will present what is expected to be its final report in his courtroom at 10 a.m. CST (11 a.m. EST).

Burkett is expected to make a statement about the report afterward. First District Attorney Patrick Morgan, who has overseen the grand jury and is retiring Thursday, said he also may speak with reporters.

The special grand jury was empaneled in June 1997 as the result of a citizens' petition drive -- and over the objections of Oklahoma's attorney general, Drew Edmondson, who called it "the worst kind of conspiracy pandering."

State Rep. Charles Key, one of the petition drive's organizers, has contended the April 19, 1995, bombing may have been part of a larger conspiracy.

The grand jury heard testimony from 117 witnesses in its 18-month life, but Key said the panel has not "been complete in doing its job." He said the jurors declined to hear testimony from people he considers experts and eyewitnesses to the bombing.

"They have heard a lot, but not from all the people they should have," Key said.

The blast killed 168 people, injured 500 and destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City.

One-time Army buddies Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were convicted in federal court on charges stemming from the bombing. McVeigh was given the death sentence in the case.

Key also has said that suggestions that one federal agency -- the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms -- knew of the plot in advance also should have been investigated. The government has denied having any prior knowledge of the attack.

Edmondson said the odds are slim the grand jury investigation will shed any additional light on the events that led to the bombing.

"I will be amazed if they suggest by name any people involved in the bombing that are not even known," Edmondson said.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Ryan, who prosecuted McVeigh and Nichols, has said that the government had "no credible evidence to suggest that others were involved."

A federal jury in Denver found McVeigh guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to death. Nichols was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy and got a life sentence.

A third man, Michael Fortier, pleaded guilty to knowing about the bomb plot in advance but failing to warn anyone. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

McVeigh and Nichols may still face state murder charges in Oklahoma.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.