Word: mcveigh
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...December FBI headquarters, for the fifth time, ordered that all the Oklahoma-bombing documents be permanently archived. As material flowed in from the field offices, the archivist realized some of it had never been put in the main case file and shared with defense lawyers. Not until Tuesday were McVeigh's lawyers notified--and even then FBI officials waited two more days to analyze the documents before telling Freeh; they were ashen as they left his office. He was, says one insider, "absolutely tear-ass." Bush and Ashcroft learned Thursday as well, and immediately after Ashcroft's Friday press conference...
...capital case, the stakes are by definition as high as they can be. With this latest misstep, the doubts about the process are threatening to help reshape the whole death-penalty debate. The prospect of McVeigh's execution had already made every argument get up and dance. Just as capital punishment was losing support with each new innocent man freed by DNA evidence, along came the perfect villain: so clearly guilty, unrepentant and pitiless that at least 75% of Americans agreed with his sentence, including 22% who say they oppose the death penalty but would make an exception...
...again. Death-penalty opponents seized on the FBI's embarrassing revelation to argue that when the stakes are this high, justice must be perfect. The moment Ashcroft announced the delay, questions flew. What if these documents had turned up six days after his execution, rather than six days before? McVeigh admitted his guilt, but death row is full of inmates who have not. How much doubt can the criminal justice system withstand? "The events of the past three days demonstrate that even in Mr. McVeigh's case, the government is not capable of carrying out the death penalty...
...McVeigh's execution had all along promised to rattle our thoughts about justice, simply by virtue of being the most closely watched, widely discussed, endlessly publicized execution in a generation. We are already involved: we "know" McVeigh. However mysterious his motives, he is still far more familiar than anyone America has executed in decades. We know that we were all his targets--that's how terrorism is supposed to work. In return, we were going to hear all about his last meal, his last words, at last...
...Friday there were more visitors than usual to the memorial at the site of the bombing in Oklahoma City. Ellen Bailey, 74, hoped that the extra time "might help convince McVeigh to say he's sorry." For his part, her son Larry is typical of many others: he opposes the death penalty but not this time. "I'm for it. I'm hoping it will give the victims closure." Beth Carpenter had worked in the building until the month before the bombing and lost scores of friends. She was distraught at the news of the delay. "He deserves...