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American Morning
McVeigh Execution: Former FBI Agent Criticizes Bureau
Aired June 08, 2001 - 09:01 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: We're going to begin with the convicted Oklahoma City bomber's countdown to death. Prison officials in Terre Haute, Indiana are moving ahead now with plans for the execution of Timothy McVeigh. At some point, possibly as early as this morning, McVeigh will walk from death row to the so-called death house. That walk will be the last time McVeigh will ever be outside.
The convicted bomber gave up his appeals and he will be executed on Monday morning. His decision came after a federal appeals court rejected his request to delay the execution.
We get the details now from CNN's Susan Candiotti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After losing two appeals in as many days, McVeigh told his lawyers: Enough, it's over.
ROB NIGH, MCVEIGH'S LAWYER: He had prepared himself to die prior to the initial execution date of May 16, and he now again wants to make the final preparations necessary to be ready to die on Monday.
CANDIOTTI: McVeigh's final rejection came from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which, after reviewing his petition for seven hours, wrote: "McVeigh has utterly failed to demonstrate substantial grounds upon which relief might be granted."
The Appeals Court upheld Wednesday's ruling by Judge Richard Matsch, who said the FBI records blunder did not matter in the long run and that the evidence against McVeigh and his own failure to claim innocence left him no valid grounds to appeal.
McVeigh's lawyers admitted the odds were stacked against them because of the brutality of the bombing: the worst terrorist act on U.S. soil.
RICHARD BURR, MCVEIGH ATTORNEY: Every decision along the way in this case since just before trial has been driven by the magnitude of the crime.
CANDIOTTI: In Oklahoma City: no sympathy from one of the 10 bomb victims who will witness Monday's execution.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only way to shut this man up and for us to get any kind of peace of mind is to actually give him an execution.
CANDIOTTI: McVeigh's lawyers now head to Terre Haute to witness his death and dispose of his ashes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: At the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, officials are moving ahead with final preparations for Monday's execution, and Timothy McVeigh is approaching the final hours of his life.
CNN's Jeff Flock joins us from Terre Haute with the latest for us -- Jeff.
JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Donna, last 71 hours or so of Tim McVeigh's life. You know he has been here on this 33-acre complex, that is the Indiana federal penitentiary that you see behind me there, since July of 1999 when he came here from the SuperMax. He is now, as we have reported, in the special confinement unit. And as you report, at any time, starting this morning, he can be transferred to that other unit that they call the execution facility, but we have been calling it the death house which is what it amounts to here in Terre Haute.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(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.
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 Pentothal, 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, reports 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)
But there will be no stay, although theoretically, Tim McVeigh could reinstate his appeal to the Supreme Court or perhaps get some sort of action from the president. Nobody thinks either of those possibilities are very likely.
This is Jeff Flock, CNN, reporting live from outside the federal penitentiary here in Terre Haute, Indiana.
KELLEY: All right, Jeff, thanks very much.
The FBI's failure to turn over thousands of documents in the McVeigh case have put the agency under scrutiny. And one person who has been highly critical of the FBI is a former special agent in Oklahoma City.
Rick Ojeda joins us this morning from Austin, Texas.
We want to point out that we did ask for someone from the FBI to join us as well, but the agency declined.
Mr. Ojeda, thanks for coming in to talk with us.
What do you think has been ignored in this case -- your reporting?
RICK OJEDA, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Basically one of my reports was ignored and from what I understand -- or I mean several other reports that were also ignored.
KELLEY: And what was in the report, your report, that you think was ignored?
OJEDA: Basically the whole report was ignored. And that's what at first got to my suspicions was there were certain -- there was an interview I conducted in which -- the interview -- I'll have to -- I'm not a sympathizer with McVeigh in any way at all. I want that understood. And that the purpose of even coming forward was not to show any innocence upon McVeigh's fault, duties or acts or anything was that basically it was just that I thought everything should have been turned over.
KELLEY: But you think that what your report did -- does it have any relevance to the case?
OJEDA: No, I mean that's the -- that's the whole thing is that it would show no innocence at all on McVeigh's part. Matter of fact, it was probably incriminating a lot of the information.
KELLEY: Can you tell us who you talked to and what was in your report that you feel has been ignored?
OJEDA: Well, I think it's already been publicized. There was an interview with a reporter from which he had some information regarding some other individuals that may have been involved in the bombing.
KELLEY: And do you feel that other folks were involved in the bombing?
OJEDA: You know I don't know nothing about the investigation itself. My -- the role that I took in the investigation was more of a peripheral role than anything else and so I'm not -- I'm not even sure about all of the information they had in the bombing case.
KELLEY: I know you're aware that over 4,000 pages turned in later by the FBI. Do you think that all the documents that pertain to this case have now been turned over or do you think there's more?
OJEDA: I would hope that everything would be turned over. But, you know, they've -- they keep coming up with more and more documents so there's no -- there's no telling.
KELLEY: You know we've heard before that the FBI said this was such a huge investigation with so many folks involved and so much paperwork and that they had maybe some computers that were a problem and some filings so it may be troubles with computers or clerical and that it actually was not intentional. Do you think this is intentional or not?
OJEDA: I don't believe it's intentional. I think it was -- it's malfeasance. You have to understand a lot of the people that -- managers in the FBI have very little investigative experience. They move up in the chain of command pretty quickly and some of them have done very little investigative work. And if they do, they concentrate on one or two cases. So I believe that basically it was just a large oversight. Now whether it's intentional or not, I have no idea.
KELLEY: You know there are those, Rick, who will say maybe you have an ax to grind because you were fired by the FBI. Can you tell us how long you worked as an FBI agent and why you were fired?
OJEDA: Approximately 10 years, and I'm appealing the decision now. And I was involved in an EEO process and was fired after I conducted some EEO charges against management.
KELLEY: Rick Ojeda, who is a former FBI agent and has some reports that he thought should have been turned over in this case, we're glad that you could come to talk to us. Thanks very much.
OJEDA: Thank you.
KELLEY: For more on the execution of Timothy McVeigh, you can go to CNN's Web site at CNN.com. You can find details on McVeigh's life from a young boy to the execution chamber.
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