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CNN Sunday Morning

McVeigh to Die Within 24 Hours

Aired June 10, 2001 - 08:01   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Six years and six weeks after the clock stood still at 9:02 in the morning in Oklahoma City, the man who detonated the bomb that snuffed out 168 lives now has less than 24 hours before his time is to expire. It appears those looking for 11th hour expressions of genuine remorse from Tim McVeigh won't get them.

In a letter published in today's "Buffalo News" McVeigh said he is sorry people had to lose their lives, but then he rationalizes their deaths as, quoting now, "the nature of the beast."

We begin our coverage at the site of the execution, the federal penitentiary in Terra Haute, Indiana. While prison officials there walked through the checklist that precedes an execution, lawyers in another case are petitioning the nation's highest court, asking that McVeigh's lethal injection be videotaped.

CNN's Susan Candiotti joins us from Terre Haute -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Official notification within the last hour that Timothy McVeigh has been moved, now that he is 24 hours away from the execution, from what's known as the special confinement facility, also commonly known as the death row, to the building that houses the death chamber. Now, the videotape provided by the Bureau of Prisons never shows McVeigh getting into or out of the van. However, the 17 minute transfer is done under heavy guard. Three armed correctional officers slowly walking in front of the van and there are four guards to the rear. The distance, just a few hundred yards.

The warden authorized the move at 3:40 local time this morning. At 10 minutes after four, McVeigh was put inside the van. At 4:27 he arrived at the death house. And three minutes later, he was in his holding cell. The tape ends without ever seeing McVeigh leave the van. The move was described as without incident and McVeigh was described as cooperative.

Now, Timothy McVeigh was assigned to this prison from another facility in Colorado back in July of 1999. That is when the death chamber here was opened. And he is now to die within 24 hours.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Since his transfer to Terre Haute nearly two years ago, Timothy McVeigh has lived in one of these 8-by-12 cells, a small table for writing letters, round the clock access to cable TV. He's said to watch the news regularly. McVeigh's final hours will be spent in this execution facility set apart from the main building. He'll be under constant watch of guards in this holding cell, its first and only occupant since the federal death penalty was reinstituted in 1988.

Both of his attorneys can remain with him until two hours before the execution.

GREGORY HERSHBERGER, U.S. BUREAU OF PRISONS: Within an hour of the scheduled execution, Mr. McVeigh will be given a khaki shirt, a pair of khaki pants, slip on type shoes.

CANDIOTTI: Next, McVeigh will be escorted a few feet to the room where he'll be put to death. Prison officials refused a request from his lawyers to be allowed to watch while he's strapped to this table and IVs inserted. Drapes will open to four rooms of witnesses overlooking McVeigh, including his lawyers, victims, reporters and government officials.

McVeigh will be asked whether he wants to make a final statement. Then the warden will read the execution order and the marshal will use the red phone in the corner to check for any legal reasons to stop. If there is no reprieve, the IV lines will open. Three drugs will be used.

HERSHBERGER: They include sodium pentathol, which causes one to fall asleep or lapse into unconsciousness. The second drug is called Pavulon and that is a muscle relaxer which causes respiration to cease. The third drug is potassium chloride and that effectively stops the heart from beating.

CANDIOTTI: Witnesses here and via closed circuit television in Oklahoma City will watch McVeigh die. Death is expected within about eight to 15 minutes. The warden will announce death. The curtains will close and a coroner will confirm the execution is complete.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: Timothy McVeigh may not have been caught, may not be where he is now but for the work of an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper. His name, Charlie Hanger. Hanger arrested Timothy McVeigh a little more than an hour after the bombing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: What drew your attention to that yellow Mercury that morning?

LT. CHARLES HANGER, OKLAHOMA HIGHWAY PATROL: As I was driving past that Mercury, I was driving faster than he was and I was in the left lane, as we are now. And I went by him and as I looked at the back of the car, there was no tag.

When I told him I stopped him because he was not displaying a tag his immediate reaction was he turned quickly and looked at the bumper. I could see a bulge under his left arm and I thought that was a weapon. And at that time I reached and grabbed the bulge on the outside of the jacket and I told him, I said, "Turn around and put your hands over your head." And as he was turning around, I drew my weapon and stuck it to the back of his head.

CANDIOTTI: If you had not found the gun on Timothy McVeigh, would you simply have written him a ticket standing there on the roadside for not having a license plate and he probably would have been on his way?

HANGER: Yes. He would have signed the ticket and been on his way.

CANDIOTTI: Looking back, did you see anything in his eyes, his demeanor that maybe separated him from all the other people that you've ticketed over the years?

HANGER: You know, what's really scary is no. He didn't have any indication. He didn't show any nervousness. He didn't show really any feeling. I have said all along that this was fate, you know. God put me at the right spot at the right time. This man was meant to be caught and he was. Just out of an ordinary routine traffic stop.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: An ordinary traffic stop and now in less than 24 hours, Timothy McVeigh will be put to death -- Miles?

O'BRIEN: CNN's Susan Candiotti in Terra Haute, Indiana.

Now on to Oklahoma City, where tomorrow morning in a government building about 300 bombing survivors and victims' relatives will gather to watch Timothy McVeigh's execution on closed circuit television. CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Oklahoma City -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

We're going to take a little bit of a different look at this story this morning. Just about every survivor or victim's family member that you speak with here in Oklahoma City will tell you that despite their anger towards Timothy McVeigh, the one person that they feel extreme sorrow for are his parents, particularly his father.

So what can it -- must it be like to be Bill McVeigh? We found one man in Oklahoma City who knows full well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM FOWLER, WITNESSED SON'S EXECUTION: This is the one we dug up down there alongside the road.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Jim Fowler is at peace in the garden. It's where he can talk to his son Mark through a blooming plant.

FOWLER: I walk by here and I hit him and I say keep up the good work, buddy. Keep it up.

LAVANDERA: That symbol is all Fowler has left. His son was convicted in 1985 of murdering three grocery store workers. Mark spent 15 years on death row and in January he was executed.

FOWLER: That last week and I, we'd come home and especially at night when you're in bed laying there thinking about this, you wonder how in God's name are we going to get through this terrible ordeal?

LAVANDERA: This isn't a story of whether Mark Fowler is innocent or guilty, it's the story of walking in Jim Fowler's shoes, the experience of raising a son...

FOWLER: I was with him in Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, T-ball.

LAVANDERA: ... and the experience of witnessing the end.

FOWLER: I couldn't have abandoned him. No way. He's my son. I had to be there for him.

LAVANDERA: Three days before the execution, Jim had one last meeting with his son. That same day he received a final five page letter with words that would make any father crumble.

FOWLER: I will always be looking out for you. Good-bye. I'll see you in heaven. I love you. And love and prayers, Mark.

LAVANDERA: With the execution about 60 hours away, Jim experienced a revelation.

FOWLER: He's all right. He's ready. And I was immediately calm. I was just, a calm came over me that I cannot explain.

LAVANDERA: Two days later, Jim walked into the execution chamber viewing room feeling peaceful. He says the Holy Spirit zapped him. Then...

FOWLER: The warden asked Mark if he had any last statements he would like to make and he started saying the Hail Mary. And we all joined in from the viewing room. We followed right along and said the Hail Mary with him. And after that was over, the warden said let the execution begin. Five minutes later he was gone. That's it. And that's hell.

LAVANDERA: Mark's life ended because he killed three others. But for those who think Jim Fowler is against the death penalty because of his son, consider that four months after his son's conviction, Jim's own mother was raped and murdered. The alleged culprit could go on trial this year and Jim vows to make sure that person is spared the death penalty.

FOWLER: We're supposed to be a Christian nation, not a bunch of barbarians. And how can you kill and claim to be a Christian and civilized?

LAVANDERA: Tough words to live by for a man who knows firsthand the high price of violence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Timothy McVeigh won't allow his father Bill to witness Monday's execution. As for Jim Fowler, he thinks that Timothy McVeigh's execution should be taped and broadcast so that people can see what an execution is like. But of course he knows that in Oklahoma right now, he is very much in the minority when it comes to the death penalty, as many people would like to see Timothy McVeigh put to death -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, thank you very much.

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