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CNN Live Saturday

McVeigh's Attorneys Say He's 'Well-Prepared' to Die

Aired June 09, 2001 - 15:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: One of Timothy McVeigh's attorneys tells CNN that the Oklahoma City bomber is well prepared to die for his offense. That's due to happen less than 48 hours from right now, and we have live reports both from Oklahoma City, with our Gary Tuchman, and from the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana where our Susan Candiotti is. Let's go there and start with you, Susan, first.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Donna. First of all, we have late word that the efforts by a Pennsylvania murder suspect to try to videotape Monday's execution are apparently not over. We understand that lawyers for Joseph Minerd have filed an application with the U.S. Supreme Court to try to block Monday morning's execution of Timothy McVeigh to allow the lawyers more time to file a complete appeal with the United States Supreme Court.

To refresh your memory about how all of this came about, we can tell you that on Thursday a federal judge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania granted the request of a murder defendant in a case that has not yet gone to trial, a man by the name of Joseph Minerd, and he had asked the court to permission to videotape Timothy McVeigh's execution. He wanted this done because as he went to trial, if indeed Minerd was found guilty, he wanted to be able to play back this videotape during a death penalty, a sentencing phase of this trial, as he put it, to show the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment.

And in fact, the federal judge, once he got word from Timothy McVeigh's lawyers that McVeigh did not mind, this judge went ahead and approved that. Well, on Friday, a district court of appeals, another appeals court in Philadelphia, rejected the lower court's motion. And now the lawyers, we have word only today, have filed this application for an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, again asking for more time to file an appeal to try to block the execution so that they can get more paperwork in on this.

So, this issue apparently not over. Now, earlier this day, I talked with one of Timothy McVeigh's lawyers about this videotape issue and here's what he had to say about it:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER TRITICO, MCVEIGH ATTORNEY: I agree with Tim that these -- this execution or any other execution ought to be televised. We have, I think, the poll I saw last night was 66 percent of the population is in favor of the death penalty, but not one of those people have ever witnessed what happens at an execution; not one of those people have seen us, the people this country, kill somebody because of one crime. And so, I think we ought to put it on TV and let's see what we're doing, and then decide if this is really appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Of course, not only televise, but McVeigh had also said that he doesn't mind whether this is videotaped to preserve the execution on videotape. As for Timothy McVeigh, Donna, as you noted, he has indeed said that he is ready to die. He spoke with one of his other lawyers, Robert Nigh, by telephone a couple of hours ago, and Robert Nigh tells me that, in McVeigh's words, he wants this to come about.

Nigh said that McVeigh doesn't want to spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole, and again that he is prepared himself mentally for this eventuality on Monday morning -- Donna.

KELLEY: Susan, do we know if McVeigh has been moved to the other facility yet?

CANDIOTTI: We have no official word on that. We do know that this must happen before Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m., that is 24 hours before the execution. We do know how he is spending his final time once he gets into the holding cell. He is said to be, as we speak, writing letters to those who -- as one of his attorneys put it, cares about him, that he is indeed making phone calls to his family as he gets ready to die.

This is a holding cell in the so-called death chamber that measures nine by fourteen feet. It has a glass window on one side so that McVeigh will be under watch 24 hours.

Donna, back to you.

KELLEY: Susan Candiotti, thanks.

And then now in Oklahoma City today as well, there's a grim sense of anticipation, and CNN's Gary Tuchman is there to tell us what's happening there -- Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Donna.

This is where the Murrah building used to stand, right behind me. Now, it's the Oklahoma City National Memorial Center. The center is usually quite crowded on the weekends, but it's especially crowded today. Many of the tourists here telling us they thought it was appropriate to come this weekend because of the news about the imminent execution of Timothy McVeigh.

However, museum officials tell us they think it would be more crowded, however, they say they have gotten a lot of calls from people thinking the museum was closed because of the excess security out here in anticipation of the execution. Indeed, there is a lot of security. The police have been out here in higher numbers for the last couple of days. They'll stay out here until Monday in those numbers. A lot going on in Oklahoma City over the next couple of days. Tomorrow, a government plane comes here to fly 10 Oklahomans picked by lottery to Terra Haute to watch the execution in person. Then, bright and early Monday morning, roughly 300 family members of the victims and survivors will be taken by bus to a site here in Oklahoma City to watch the execution on closed- circuit television.

A short time ago, the governor of Oklahoma was here at the memorial site.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. FRANK KEATING (R), OKLAHOMA: Well, I think for some, this is closure because he's the one who lit the fuse. He's the one that did it. For others, those who lost family members, those who are badly injured, there probably will never be closure. Whether he's on the Earth or not, you'll never forget what happened to you and your family.

But for us as a city, I think that we have become a better place. We remember that there was no looting during this tragedy, and that everyone shared without regard to race, color or sex. The money was raised to put kids through college who lost one or both parents. Monies were raised privately To heal everyone and to the extent that we could, and I think that was a statement of civic goodness and a lot of pride came from that. But I think for many of us, we'll never forget this because it was such a horrific event and we probably should never forget it to make sure it never happens again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Obviously, it's impossible to accurately predict how the family members will react to watching this execution on Monday morning, but perhaps I can give you a little insight. I was an eyewitness to an execution in 1996 for CNN. I represented the television news media in the state of Delaware, the last hanging in the United States.

The criminal's name was Billy Bailey. He has murdered two elderly people in Kent County, Delaware. He was on death row for 16 years. I was there with five other members of the news media, print reporters for newspaper, and we were there with seven family members of the couple that was murdered.

We were in the gallows chamber in Smyrna, Delaware, where they had the hanging gallows back then, standing there for 10 minutes, staring right at Billy Bailey. He stared at us for six minutes. We stared at him. He said nothing, we said nothing. It was completely silent. They asked Billy Bailey if he had any final words. He said excuse me. They said, do you have any final words? He said no. He then had a hood put on his head and he was then hanged.

I watched him very carefully; I watched the family members very carefully. The family members didn't cheer, they didn't cry, they didn't yell; they didn't do anything. They just watched very intently. After it was over, they told us they were glad that he was executed, but the important point to point out was it was all very quiet in that room while it was happening.

Perhaps it also helped that Billy Bailey had nothing to say in his final words. It's expected Timothy McVeigh will.

Donna, back to you.

KELLEY: Gary Tuchman, thank you.

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