Judge denies stay for McVeigh

Associated Press

DENVER — A judge denied Timothy McVeigh a further stay of execution Wednesday, saying nothing in newly disclosed FBI documents could change the fact that he was the "instrument of death and destruction" in the Oklahoma City bombing.

McVeigh’s lawyers said they would file an appeal today. The 33-year-old Gulf War veteran is set to die by injection Monday at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind.

After a hearing that lasted a little more than an hour, U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch said he was shocked that the government waited until six days before McVeigh’s original execution date to begin turning over more than 4,400 pages of documents in the case.

But he brushed aside McVeigh’s bid to force a hearing over the mistake and said the findings of the jury that convicted McVeigh in 1997 still stand.

McVeigh’s attorneys had argued that the execution should be delayed because the FBI documents released last month could have helped McVeigh’s defense, perhaps by pointing to the involvement of others in the crime.

Attorney General John Ashcroft was pleased with Matsch’s decision. "We’ve never had a doubt about the guilt of Timothy McVeigh," he said.

McVeigh’s appeal will be filed with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, which has never overturned Matsch in the bombing case. Further appeals would go to the Supreme Court.

McVeigh will be moved as early as Friday from his cell to the holding cell in the death chamber.