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American Morning

Oklahoma City Prepares for Events Related to McVeigh Execution

Aired June 07, 2001 - 11:36   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The people of Oklahoma City are keeping a close watch on the latest developments in the Timothy McVeigh case.

Our national correspondent Gary Tuchman joins us now; he's standing by in Oklahoma City with some reaction for us this morning -- Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Leon, this has the potential to be a very busy and emotional weekend here in Oklahoma City. Already security is being moved into place at the Oklahoma City National Memorial Center. This is where the Murrah Building used to stand. And you can see mounted police officers on two horses, motorcycle officers. They just arrived here a short time ago. They are planning on maintain 24-hour presence now until Monday if the execution order still stands.

Barriers are being put up, and media platforms are now being installed for the news media who will be here to cover the execution, if it does happen on Monday.

Also, if the execution is still scheduled to happen, a plane -- a government plane will fly here to Oklahoma City on Sunday to pick up 10 Oklahomans who have been picked to witness the execution in person in Terra Haute. They will fly out Sunday. Also, roughly 300 other Oklahomans will be watching it on a closed-circuit telecast here in Oklahoma City. They will go to bed early Sunday, wake up way before dawn on Monday, be transported by bus to a jail facility near the Oklahoma City Airport to watch the scheduled execution.

A short time ago we talked with the former U.S. Attorney from Oklahoma City, Patrick Ryan. He is the man who prosecuted Timothy McVeigh in Denver. Regarding the judge's decision yesterday, he said he would not have been bothered if Judge Matsch issued a stay. But he also says he believes it wasn't necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK RYAN, PROSECUTOR: I think there's a perception on some people's part that these additional 4,000 documents are like the missing key to the investigation, or they're some -- they're segmented to some very significant aspect of the investigation. The reality is, they're just a bunch of riffraff documents that are meaningless in the context of 1 billion records that the FBI gathered in this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: We mentioned 10 family members of victims and survivors were picked to witness the execution in person. They were picked by lottery.

One of them is Paul Howell, who lost his daughter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL HOWELL, FATHER OF VICTIM: It's something that I've been thinking about for years. The only time I've ever seen McVeigh is on closed-circuit or on the TV. And so I'm the type of man that needs to look at this man face-to-face, and hopefully I can see something in his face that will give some kind of remorse other than what he's said in the past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Howell says he's eager to witness the execution. But he says he still feels like it will postponed. We'll see.

Leon, back to you.

HARRIS: All right, thanks; Gary Tuchman reporting live from Oklahoma City.

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