Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

McVeigh May Fight Death Penalty

Aired May 12, 2001 - 09:00   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: We begin this hour with the case of Timothy McVeigh, however. The confessed Oklahoma City bomber now clings to a new chance at life provided by the very government that was preparing to put him to death.

We have CNN correspondents posted at various mile markers on this long ongoing legal odyssey.

Let's first go to Susan Candiotti in Denver and Bob Franken in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Let's begin with you, Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, where we are standing, is one of the venues where McVeigh's lawyers could go next if they decide to pursue further appeals in this case. But all of that really depends on what they find as they pick apart thousands of pages of new FBI material that they had not previously seen, material that includes, for example, information about additional John Doe 2 sightings.

But 3,000 documents is not a very large number in the grand scheme of things, because of the millions of documents that were involved in this case. But that is not the point. The point is, is that the FBI filed to turn over, as they were supposed to, all of the evidence over to McVeigh's lawyers. They were under a court order to do so.

Now, the FBI insists that they will -- that the lawyers will not be able to find any evidence in this material that will create any kind of reasonable doubt about McVeigh's guilt, and after all, Timothy McVeigh has fully admitted his role, and that he acted largely alone in carrying out the Oklahoma City bombing.

Now, I asked McVeigh's lawyers whether it took much of a selling job on their point to convince their client to at least consider all of his options, because, after all, he had said that he was prepared to die and looked forward to it.

The thing is, is that McVeigh's lawyers said they didn't have to do a selling job because by the time they got in to see their client at the prison yesterday, they had already found out about the 30-day postponement. Now, if the lawyers don't have 30 -- can't complete their work in 30 days, they said they might go to court to ask for more time -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: All right, Susan.

Let's send it over to Bob Franken, who's in Terre Haute. Bob, we've been getting a lot of e-mails this morning from folks in Terre Haute, a lot of, well, disappointment there. They sort of had girded themselves for this, the first federal execution in 38 years, and now there's a sense of disappointment and a sense, also, that they're going to be -- well, have to endure another period of time waiting.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, endure in some people's eyes. To be perfectly blunt about it, some of them were profiting from this. As a matter of fact, with the huge onslaught of media people here and the rest, quite a few people, hotels and the like were going to make quite a bit of money. It casts quite a bit of uncertainty if they're going to be able to handle the next time around, if there is a next time around, if they're going to be able to handle with hotel rooms and the like reporting about what ultimately happens with Timothy McVeigh.

There's also, of course, the uncertainty of it all. Timothy McVeigh now is going to have to decide, as Susan points out, whether he is going to change course and pursue appeals, which could plausibly interrupt this, at least delay the execution. And there are the questions about the material itself, whether there is anything that is, to repeat the word, material, whether, in fact, there is a legal basis to stop this beyond the 30 days.

So everything right now is in a state of turmoil, in a state of uncertainty.

O'BRIEN: Susan, let me just send it back to you briefly here, 3,000 documents, 30 days, if they work every single day, that's about 100 documents a day. That seems like a lot, but these documents, as I understand them, sometimes are -- offer scant additional information.

Let me just ask you this, though, where's the burden of proof at this juncture? If the defense files nothing in the way of a motion, will the execution go on on June 11?

CANDIOTTI: Well, that would appear to be the case, if no other motions are filed, so that's why, again, there is so much uncertainty about all of this. These lawyers have a large job ahead of them, and they'll take as much time as they feel necessary to go over all this information.

But they do have that option of going to court to see if they need -- if they do, indeed, need more time.

O'BRIEN: All right. CNN's Bob Franken and Susan Candiotti, watching this for us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com