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American Morning
McVeigh Turns Down All Appeals, Preparing for Execution
Aired June 08, 2001 - 11:01 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: Timothy McVeigh has turned down all further appeals and is said to be preparing for his execution, scheduled for Monday morning.
We have correspondents standing by to bring you this story, starting with our Jeff Flock, at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Jeff, take it away.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hello to you, Leon.
Indeed, it's really ramping up here. They've got about 1,400 media credentials that they have given out us thus far. This morning, they allowed us access to the prison grounds. Perhaps you can see the 33-acre campus of the federal penitentiary here in Terre Haute behind me.
Of course, this is an important story not only because of the execution of Timothy McVeigh, but this is also the first federal execution since the 1960s. It is the first ever federal execution by lethal injection. So if this even wasn't Timothy McVeigh, chances are, I think, that we would be sitting here still outside the walls of this federal penitentiary.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FLOCK (voice-over): When the federal penitentiary here in Terre Haute, Indiana, was built in 1940, it was the first with a razor-wire fence instead of a wall for security. Now, another first looms: first federal capital punishment since 1963 -- Tim McVeigh to be put to death on this brown padded gurney Monday morning. It's visible through glass panels in the prison's so-called execution facility, the windowless brick building on the west side of the 33-acre grounds.
McVeigh is now housed here with 19 other inmates on the special confinement unit. It's federal death row. Each of them in an 8-by-10 cell, like this one, with a bunk, toilet, desk and small black and white TV set.
Beginning Friday morning, McVeigh could, at any time, be moved to the death house, where he will stay in this holding cell watched by guards until about 6:00 a.m. local time Monday. That's when, dressed in khakis, a shirt and slip-on shoes, he is brought to the green ceramic-tiled room where a lethal injection of sodium Thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride will be pumped into his arm.
(on camera): While we know much about what is to happen to McVeigh over the next few days, very little has come out about the almost two years he spent at the prison here in Terre Haute.
(voice-over): This Web site, deathrowspeaks.net, purports to publish the journals of fellow federal death row inmates. Prison officials believe the site's postings are from inmates, but couldn't confirm the veracity of the claims.
One inmate who claims to have been McVeigh's next door neighbor says McVeigh had been resigned to his execution and, for several months, ate only vegetables because he wanted to look like a -- quote -- "concentration camp victim" for the postmortem photos. A journal entry from a week ago says McVeigh had taken to eating regular food lately as the prospect of a stay loomed.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Obviously, the notion of a stay, the pursuit a stay, that's pretty well done. His attorneys are expected to visit him today, although not to discuss that. Two of his attorneys will be witnessing the execution on Monday -- Leon.
HARRIS: Thanks, Jeff Flock, standing by in Terre Haute, Indiana. We'll get back to you later on, throughout the day -- Donna.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: We go now to Oklahoma City, where our Gary Tuchman is standing by -- Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donna, behind me used to stand a relatively nondescript federal building. When that building was blown up, on April 19, 1995, it changed life here forever. Even six years later, the words "Oklahoma City" are often used synonymously with the word "terrorism," but now that terrorist is preparing for his last weekend of life, and many people here are gratefully relieved.
Three hundred family members of victims and survivors will be attending a closed-circuit telecast of the Indiana execution here in Oklahoma City. They'll board buses around 4:00 a.m. Oklahoma time for a ride to a federal jail facility near the Oklahoma City Airport to watch the execution.
Another 10 Oklahomans have been selected via lottery to watch the execution in person, in Terre Haute, Indiana.
One of them is Paul Howell. He lost his daughter and said the government plane will pick them up, here in Oklahoma City, on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL HOWELL, FATHER OF BOMBING VICTIM: What they said is they would give us a little bit of training Sunday when we get there, about what was going to happen, how it was going to happen. Then we'd go in there on Monday morning, after the execution, and they would do us some debriefing. And that's about all they've told us right now.
TUCHMAN: Have they given you any indication that counseling will be offered or anything psychological like that?
HOWELL: Yes, the debriefing is the situation to find out if the we need any counseling, and if we do, they will have counselors there for us and do everything they can to help us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Nineteen children were killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. Two of them were Chase and Colton Smith, two- and three- year-old brothers.
A short time ago, we talked with their grandmother, Kathy Wilburn. Kathy Wilburn does not feel that Timothy McVeigh should be executed. She feels that if he dies, so dies the truth. However, she also says that, nevertheless, she will attend the closed-circuit viewing of the execution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHY WILBURN, GRANDMOTHER OF BOMBING VICTIMS: If someone kills your children, that's just the thing you ought to do. I mean there's no book, there's no protocol, to tell you what to do, and it just seems like, for me, it's the right thing to do, to be there to represent Chase and Colton.
TUCHMAN: If you could talk to Chase and Colton right now and tell them about what's going on at this moment, what would you say, how would you do it?
WILBURN: I don't know, but I wouldn't be talking about McVeigh.
TUCHMAN: What would you say to them?
WILBURN: Oh, I'd love to just wrap my arms around them and hug them one more time, to kiss them. You know, I don't know what I'd say, but I wish I'd that opportunity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: After six years, the heartbreak is still deep here, the emotions raw. That won't change. What will change is the killer will no longer be around.
Donna, back to you.
KELLEY: Gary, I think we've talking lately that more people are coming to the memorial as the execution draws nearer, and even on anniversary dates there. How about security? Are they beefing up security there?
TUCHMAN: We noticed visibly, Donna, that security started getting beefed up yesterday. There are many more police around, police on horseback, police on motorcycle, all in this area. This is the Oklahoma City Bombing Museum. There's an indoor museum behind me, and an outdoor memorial site to the left of me. The memorial site is where the building literally stood. And that's why the police are here, just in case there is any problem.
KELLEY: Gary Tuchman, in Oklahoma City, thank you.
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