September 8, 1995
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (CNN) -- The prosecution asked Friday to have the Murrah Federal Building bombing case tried by a judge from outside of Oklahoma City. The Justice Department said, however, that any change of venue would remain within the state.
"It is of paramount importance that the nation have complete confidence in the integrity of the verdict ultimately reached in this case," prosecutors told the court.
The prosecution team asked U.S. District Judge Wayne Alley to step aside in the case and said all the other federal judges in Oklahoma City should do the same voluntarily, so no questions would be raised about the fairness of the trial.
The move Friday almost certainly foreshadows an eventual transfer of the trial from Oklahoma City, where former Army buddies Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are jailed on charges of terrorism, conspiracy and murder in the April 19 bombing. The attack took 169 lives.
Prosecutors recommended that a new trial judge be chosen by the chief judge of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. The 10th Circuit encompasses Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming as well as Oklahoma. The defense has said it wants the trial moved even farther away, mentioning Portland, Oregon, and Charleston, West Virginia. The defense has not yet formally filed for a change of venue.
"We welcome the government's motion," Nichols' attorney Michael Tigar said. "This gives us the opportunity to have a fruitful and useful discussion about where the case should be tried."
In Washington, Justice Department spokesman Carl Stern told reporters that the government wants the trial to take place in Oklahoma, but outside of the capital city, where the bombing took place. The likely choices would be Tulsa or Muskogee, the seats of the state's two other federal judicial districts.
The final decision on whether to step aside will remain in the hands of Judge Alley himself. But with the prosecution now joining the defense in asking for a new judge, it will be difficult for Alley to stay in the case. McVeigh's attorney Stephen Jones promised a fight if he does.
No trial date has been set. The trial is not expected to begin until next spring at the earliest. The prosecution made no mention of a change of the trial site in its court papers Friday. The defense has already said it will ask for a change of venue, but Stern said any motion to move it outside Oklahoma will be opposed by the government.
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