Time: Wed Jul 16 13:43:26 1997
	by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id NAA24580
	for [address in tool bar]; Wed, 16 Jul 1997 13:22:35 -0700 (MST)
	by usr07.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id MAA16709;
	Wed, 16 Jul 1997 12:48:20 -0700 (MST)
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 12:47:57 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: Oklahoma Grand Jury hears conspiracy theory (fwd)

<snip>
>
>   [IMAGE] Grand jury hears conspiracy theory 
>   
>   Lawmaker presents his Oklahoma City bombing findings 
>   
>   07/16/97
>   
>   By Arnold Hamilton / The Dallas Morning News
>   
>   
>   OKLAHOMA CITY - As prosecutors, defense attorneys and a judge met
>   about Terry Nichols' trial, a state grand jury heard allegations
>   Tuesday that others besides Mr. Nichols and Timothy McVeigh may have
>   carried out the Oklahoma City bombing.
>   
>   State Rep. Charles Key, whose petition drive led to creating the grand
>   jury, said he presented evidence that suggests Mr. McVeigh was not
>   alone in the moments before the April 19, 1995, attack.
>   
>   Mr. Key, an Oklahoma City Republican, also said he developed
>   information that indicates federal authorities may have known in
>   advance of plans by anti-government factions to blow up the Alfred P.
>   Murrah Federal Building.
>   
>   "All the truth has not been told about the Oklahoma City bombing," Mr.
>   Key said after providing grand jurors with a list of 38 potential
>   witnesses. "The witnesses are going to back up the fact that there
>   were other people that helped Timothy McVeigh here in Oklahoma City."
>   
>   Federal prosecutors and investigators said they no longer believe
>   others may have conspired with the two former Army buddies. Mr.
>   McVeigh was convicted last month of conspiracy and murder and
>   sentenced to death. Mr. Nichols' trial on similar charges is set to
>   begin Sept. 29 in Denver federal court.
>   
>   Government agents also deny they knew in advance of a plot to blow up
>   the Murrah Building. Indeed, one federal agent, Luke Franey of the
>   Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, testified during Mr.
>   McVeigh's trial of his harrowing escape from the top floor of the
>   bombed-out federal building.
>   
>   In other developments in the Oklahoma City bombing case:
>   
>   * Mr. Key's testimony came just hours after he learned of the death of
>   Glenn Wilburn, an Oklahoma City accountant who helped him spearhead
>   the grand jury petition drive. Mr. Wilburn's two grandsons, Chase and
>   Colton Smith, were killed in the Murrah building day-care center.
>   
>   Their deaths prompted Mr. Wilburn, 46, to undertake his own
>   investigation of the bombing, an inquiry that convinced him that there
>   was conspiracy and that ATF agents were warned to avoid the nine-story
>   federal office tower that day.
>   
>   Mr. Wilburn's widow, Kathy, said Tuesday that her husband believed he
>   was losing his prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer because of the
>   stress of his grandsons' deaths and his investigation into the
>   bombing.
>   
>   "He was definitely another victim of the bombing," she said.
>   
>   Mr. Wilburn's funeral will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Citychurch, only
>   five blocks north of the bomb site. Mrs. Wilburn said the service will
>   focus on what her husband learned in his investigation. And she said
>   the funeral procession will circle around the Murrah site.
>   
>   A native of Olustee, Okla., Mr. Wilburn attended Southwestern Oklahoma
>   State University at Weatherford before establishing an accounting
>   practice in Oklahoma City.
>   
>   In addition to his wife, Mr. Wilburn is survived by two sons and a
>   stepdaughter, Edye Smith, the mother of the two boys killed in the
>   blast.
>   
>   * Lawyers for Mr. Nichols and government prosecutors met briefly,
>   behind closed doors, in Denver with U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch
>   about the summonses and preliminary questionnaires that will be mailed
>   Monday to 1,000 prospective jurors.
>   
>   The jury will be selected from the same 23 counties in and around
>   Denver that was used in Mr. McVeigh's trial.
>   
>   * Prosecutors formally opposed a request by Mr. Nichols' lawyers that
>   a photographer be permitted to chronicle Mr. Nichols' visits with his
>   wife and children at the Federal Correctional Institution in suburban
>   Denver where he is being held.
>   
>   "One of the most important characteristics of Terry Nichols, the human
>   being, is his love for his family, his wife Marife and his three
>   children, Josh, Nicole and Christian," Mr. Nichols' co-counsel Reid
>   Neureiter wrote in a brief seeking court authorization for the photo
>   sessions.
>   
>   Mr. Neureiter said the photographs could be used to "give the jury a
>   full picture of Terry Nichols, the human being."
>   
>   But Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James Orenstein argued that Mr.
>   Nichols should not be allowed to "stage family scenes now simply to
>   impress the jury at the penalty phase."
>   
>   "Prior to his arrest, Nichols had every opportunity to take family
>   photos and home movies depicting his relationship with members of his
>   family," Mr. Orenstein wrote. "Nichols has not revealed whether any
>   such photographs or movies exist. If they do exist, they should
>   suffice ... to show that Nichols is indeed a loving husband and
>   father."
>   
>   Mr. Neureiter noted in his motion that Mr. Nichols' son, Christian,
>   wasn't even born when his father was arrested as a material witness in
>   the bombing case, just two days after the blast.
>   
>   * A federal appeals court upheld Judge Matsch's decision to seal from
>   public view key court documents in the case against Mr. McVeigh and
>   Mr. Nichols. The Dallas Morning News and other news media had
>   challenged the judge's action, saying it violated the public's right
>   to know fully about the legal proceeding.
>   
>   A three-judge panel from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
>   Denver said it had reviewed the still-secret documents and concluded
>   that "the district court properly sealed only those portions of the
>   documents" necessary to ensure both men a fair trial.
>   
>   "It is important to bear in mind the extraordinary context of this
>   case as a whole," the judges wrote. "A high-profile case such as this
>   imposes unique demands on the trial court."
>   
>   Specifically, news organizations sought complete access to Mr.
>   Nichols' motion to suppress evidence, notes compiled by an FBI agent
>   during a 9-hour interview with Mr. Nichols before his arrest and
>   motions by both Mr. McVeigh and Mr. Nichols for separate trials.
>   
>   Judge Matsch allowed edited copies of the documents to be released for
>   public view, and indicated all may be released in their entirety after
>   Mr. Nichols' trial.
>   
>   Media lawyers said the judge's action went far beyond ensuring fair
>   trials.
>   
>   Paul Watler, attorney for The News, said the newspaper will decide
>   soon whether to appeal. He said The News could decide to press the
>   case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
>   
>   
>   The Associated Press contributed to this report. 
>
<snip>

========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell                 : Counselor at Law, federal witness
B.A., Political Science, UCLA;  M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine

tel:     (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night
email:   [address in tool bar]       : using Eudora Pro 3.0.3 on 586 CPU
website: http://www.supremelaw.com   : visit the Supreme Law Library now
ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech,  at its best
             Tucson, Arizona state   : state zone,  not the federal zone
             Postal Zone 85719/tdc   : USPS delays first class  w/o this

As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice.  We shall
not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal.
========================================================================
[This text formatted on-screen in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]

      


Return to Table of Contents for

Supreme Law School:   E-mail