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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Prison Officials Prepare for Timothy McVeigh's Execution; Man Wielding Knife Murders Eight Japanese Schoolchildren

Aired June 08, 2001 - 20:00   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.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, prison officials in Indiana are getting ready for the first federal execution since 1963, and Timothy McVeigh's lawyers say he's getting ready to die. Attorney General John Ashcroft calls it the "completion" of justice, but what's going through McVeigh's mind? I'll ask his attorney, Richard Burr.

It's Japan's worst mass-killing since the Tokyo subway attack six years ago. A man walked into an elementary school and silently began stabbing children. We'll go live to Tokyo.

And this may shock and amaze you, but there's another fight between Ali and Frazier. The grudge match is tonight between their daughters.

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting tonight from Washington.

Barring some unforeseen development, this will be Timothy McVeigh's final weekend. Six years ago, he planted a bomb in a Ryder truck and exploded it just outside the federal office building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, and injuring hundreds more. Now prison authorities in Terre Haute, Indiana, are making the final preparations for the execution of the 33-year-old bomber, and that's our top story.

CNN's Bill Hemmer is in Terre Haute and he joins us now live. Bill, tell us what's going on.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, prison officials have not said much about how Timothy McVeigh is spending his final days inside the federal prison here in Terre Haute. However, through his attorneys, they believe McVeigh has been continuing his letter- writing campaign, a number of people with whom he has had correspondence over the past weeks and several months. Meanwhile, though, the clock continues to tick down toward Monday morning and Timothy McVeigh's final moments.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER (voice-over): This windowless, two-story brick building is known as the death house. It's never been used before. Sometime before Sunday morning, Timothy McVeigh will be shackled, then transferred into this 9-by-14 foot room, a holding cell at the federal prison in Terre Haute. He'll be allowed a newspaper, a paperback book and up to five personal photos. Then at noon on Sunday, McVeigh will eat his final meal -- a meal the convicted bomber has yet to choose.

Also on Sunday, McVeigh is expected to meet with his attorneys in prison. And for the 24 hour period before he dies, all phone calls must be approved by the warden. Then Monday morning, two hours before his execution, any visitors inside will be asked to leave.

GREG HERSHBERGER, FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS: And at that point, within an hour of the scheduled execution, Mr. McVeigh will be given a khaki shirt, a pair of khaki pants, slip-on type shoes. He will be searched. He will be restrained, and an escort team will then escort him from the holding cell to the execution room.

HEMMER: The execution room is lined with windows on three sides. At least three dozen witnesses, including Paul Howell, who lost his daughter in the bombing, will be there to watch it.

PAUL HOWELL, FATHER OF VICTIM: I'm going to go in there and I'm going to try to clear my mind of everything that's been going on lately, and try to prepare myself mentally and physically for McVeigh's execution.

HEMMER: McVeigh is to be injected with three different drugs. The prison warden says it may take seven minutes before his life is over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: And here in Terre Haute, prison officials have been rehearsing for this execution all week long. Mock exercises have taken place to ensure that the first federal execution in 38 years comes off without a hitch come Monday morning -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Bill, there was one last bit of legal man maneuvering going on today, involving the videotaping, potentially, of the execution. Fill us in, tell us what's going on on that front.

HEMMER: In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wolf, a federal judge there had ruled that the execution should be videotaped. This, in regard to another death penalty case. That was early this afternoon, but late today a higher court, an appeals court came in and said that judge was wrong. As it stands right now, there will be no videotaping of McVeigh's execution on Monday morning, Wolf.

BLITZER: Bill Hemmer in Terre Haute, and stay with CNN throughout the weekend and Monday morning. Bill will be there covering all of these developments.

Meanwhile, here in Washington, Attorney General John Ashcroft last month delayed McVeigh's execution when the FBI revealed it had withheld documents from the defense. But Ashcroft told CNN justice correspondent Kelly Arena today the courts have ruled and justice must now be done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's our responsibility, and it's the responsibility of the justice system to come to a completion of the process. This completion will not restore the victims, but it will at least allow them to know that the justice process has worked and that it's complete.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Later in the program I'll speak with McVeigh defense attorney Richard Burr about McVeigh's preparations for his execution.

In Japan, shock and grief after a knife-wielding man rampaged through an elementary school. Eight children were killed, 13 others, along with two teachers, were injured. Let's go live to CNN Tokyo Bureau Chief Marina Kamimura. She's there with the latest.

Marina, tell us what happened.

MARINA KAMIMURA, CNN TOKYO BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, Wolf. Well, Japan, very much trying to come to grips with this tragedy that occurred in western Japan. Parents, teachers and students very much praying for the lives of those still clinging to life in local hospitals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAMIMURA: School officials say the suspect jumped over a balcony during a morning break, lashing out at dozens of children as he made his way through four classrooms filled with first and second-grade students. Several of them ran into a nearby store for help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Some kids came in saying there was a murderer in the school, and people had been stabbed. The child who came in last was bloody from waist down. And they asked that an ambulance be called, then they all started crying.

KAMIMURA: Others could be seen running out into the schoolyard as anxious parents rushed to the exclusive elementary school in a quiet neighborhood of the city of Ikeda in Osaka, Japan. Police arrested the man, a 37-year-old former employee of another area school, who reportedly has a history of mental illness, and said he was on tranquilizers at the time of the attack.

Local media report the suspect had failed at several suicide attempts and was hoping to be executed. Health and education officials vowed to improve school safety, and promised emotional care for the traumatized children, their parents and teachers.

DR. TETSURO KOBAYASHI, IKEDA HOSPITAL (through translator): These children have been through a terrible ordeal, and I urge you to look after them, until the pain has lessened.

KAMIMURA: So very much too early right now, Wolf, to say exactly what will happen, in this scenario. But with the suspect himself asking for the death penalty, and in general, the support levels for capital punishment here in Japan, relatively high compared to other countries, it may be one of the roads that we see, one of the scenarios that we see unfolding in this case -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Marina Kamimura in Tokyo, thank you very much

Meanwhile, over the objections of two members, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights today approved a report which finds minority voters were disenfranchised during the presidential election in Florida. The report says African-American voters were nine times more likely than whites to have had their ballots rejected during the counting process, and it sharply criticized state officials, including Governor Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris.

While memories of campaign 2000 linger, Florida is already looking ahead to another election. CNN's Mark Potter reports from Miami.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After a serenade by school children in Miami, Governor Jeb Bush finally made the announcement Republicans and Democrats had been anticipating.

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: I intend to run for reelection. I've had the time to...

(APPLAUSE)

POTTER: The election is still almost a year and a half away and the Democratic field is yet to be determined. But the Florida governor's race has already become a national campaign.

SUSAN MACMANUS, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA: Both political parties have the two "M"s of politics that are critical: money and motive. And there's a lot of pride at stake.

POTTER: Democrats who once feared Jeb Bush might be invincible now argue he is damaged politically and can be beaten.

BOB POE, FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN: This race is an exciting opportunity for Democrats to go up against Jeb Bush. He's vulnerable, and we're ready to take the governor's mansion back.

JIM KANE, EDITOR, "THE FLORIDA VOTER": Well, they want revenge. Many Democrats feel that the presidential race in Florida was stolen in 2000, and because of Jeb Bush's relationship to the president, being his younger brother, they'd like to pay them back by taking the governorship away from them.

POTTER: Democrats also believe if they retake the governor's mansion in this key electoral state, they have a much better shot at the White House in 2004.

But Republicans warn the Democrats face an uphill battle.

AL CARDENAS, FLORIDA GOP CHAIRMAN: We've got a governor who is one of the most popular politicians in the country, whose favorable/unfavorable margins are still over 30 points. Very difficult to beat an incumbent under those circumstances. Jeb's a great campaigner and a formidable foe.

POTTER: But several issues have energized the Democrats, including the possibility that Former Attorney General Janet Reno may enter the race. While still a controversial figure nationally, she has a strong base of Democratic support in Florida.

CROWD: Go, Janet, go! Run, Janet, run!

POTTER: Already, the Florida governor's race is shaping up to be next year's marquee political campaign, not only a referendum on last year's race, but a preview of the year 2004.

Mark Potter, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: How is Timothy McVeigh spending his last days? What's on his mind? I'll ask his defense attorney Richard Burr.

And more than 25 years after the "Thrilla in Manila," another Ali-Frazier fight. Like father, like daughter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. He has seen many people prepare for their executions over the years. He has represented Timothy McVeigh throughout the death penalty phase of the bombing case, and as well as anyone can, he may be able to tell us what's going on inside the mind of McVeigh.

Joining me now from Houston is attorney Richard Burr. He specializes in death penalty cases. Mr. Burr, thanks for joining us. I know you spoke with Timothy McVeigh only yesterday. What is going through his mind right now?

RICHARD BURR, MCVEIGH ATTORNEY: He is preparing to die. You know, not many of us know with any certainty when we are going to die. Tim does, and anybody else who is put to death does. And he is going through the process that a human being goes through when they know that they are going to die. He is letting go of life, and saying his farewells to people that count to him, and I'm sure he is meditating a lot. He is very, he is introspective and thoughtful, and he is, you know, doing what he has to do to put his affairs in order.

BLITZER: Do you get any sense he is scared?

BURR: No. Tim, as many people know, was a decorated soldier. He went to the Gulf War, and most of the fellows who went there were told that there was going to be a high casualty rate, and he went through the process of learning to deal with that fear as a soldier. And I think that that probably has helped him to some extent, not be as afraid as one might in these circumstances.

BLITZER: He murdered 168 people, including 19 children. Has he shown any remorse whatsoever? BURR: There were a number of times throughout my relationship with Tim where he expressed compassion for what -- for the pain that came out of this. He had tremendous compassion for the people who died at Waco. And he saw this event as something that in his mind had to be done to get the federal government to pay attention to the abuses that it was carrying out against its citizens.

He did not see the victims of this case as individuals, as people whom, you know, he intended to kill in that sense. And I think that at some level, he is sorry that there has been so much suffering that, in his mind, had to come from this.

BLITZER: What makes -- you spent a lot of time talking to him -- what makes a decorated Gulf War veteran go out and commit this kind of act of terrorism?

BURR: I think the critical point for him actually was the Gulf War. Up until that time, he intended to be a career soldier. He was -- he had risen quickly through the ranks. He was quite well respected by everybody who knew him and had anything to do with him. And he was prepared to go into an honorable combat in the Gulf War.

What turned out, though, was when he got there, the air war had been so horrifying and so devastating to the Iraqi people that he saw what he believed to be genocide going on, genocide committed by U.S. forces and allied forces against what really appeared to be a rather defenseless people. That sort of shattered his illusion about the government, and it began a process -- it was a slow, several-year process -- of disaffection, and disillusionment, and anger, and extraordinary fear of the federal government.

BLITZER: Do you have any idea what his last words will be?

BURR: I don't know for sure. I expect that it will be dignified, that it will be a statement of strength, and a statement probably about honor, but I don't know what the content will be. He is a private person in a number of ways, and I doubt that he would share that with anybody.

BLITZER: Is there any chance whatsoever, in your mind, that before Monday morning, he will have a change of mind on his part and decide to seek an appeal?

BURR: No. I do not think so. I wish that he would. I, as a lawyer who has defended people against this terrible punishment for a number of years, the last thing I want to do is what I'm doing right now. I don't want to be talking with folks. I would like to be talking with judges, and trying to argue and persuade people to save this person's life. I don't like to be sitting here like this.

BLITZER: Richard Burr, we have to leave it right there. Thank you so much for joining us.

BURR: Thank you.

And up next, the first daughters make their plea. We'll tell you what they're telling the court. And two other daughters take to the ring to renew a family grudge.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. In other news tonight, high school students and teachers lined up by the thousands in Alliance, Ohio today to get vaccinated against a deadly meningitis-related illness. In recent weeks, two students have died, and another has become seriously ill. Health officials say they're hopeful the outbreak is winding down.

In California swimming pool was a nice escape from the heat for this black bear today. As many as three bears came down from Southern California's San Gabriel mountains, apparently in search of food. Authorities were able to usher the bears back up the mountain.

In Austin, Texas, the Bush daughters have entered pleas to alcohol-related charges. Barbara, the daughter on the right, pleaded "no contest" to underage possession and was placed on probation. Her sister, Jenna, pleaded "not guilty" to trying to buy alcohol with someone else's identification. Jenna was cited weeks earlier for underage drinking.

You might find it hard to believe, but tonight Ali is fighting Frazier. Laila Ali and Jacqui Frazier, the daughters of the two legendary heavyweight champions, square off in Verona, New York. Most boxing experts agree neither of these women is anywhere near the top of the female fight game in terms of ability. But just the buzz around this fight gives women's boxing some much-needed publicity.

CNN's David George reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Thank heaven for little girls, for little girls get bigger every day. Thank heaven for little girls, they grow up in the most delightful way.

DAVID GEORGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Laila, daughter of Muhammad Ali. Tonight, she goes into the ring to fight Jacqui, daughter of Joe Frazier. You won't watch the daughters without thinking of the dads, Frazier and Ali.

JOE FRAZIER, FORMER HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION: You can't separate the one from another. When you mention Frazier, who else can you think about? When you mention Muhammad, who can you think about? It's not a bad thing.

GEORGE: No, it wasn't a bad thing back in the '70s, when Muhammad Ali was taking two fights out of three from "Smokin'" Joe Frazier. Outside the ring, the men were friends. Until, to hear Frazier tell it, Ali changed.

FRAZIER: He always run around and say: "I am the greatest, I am the greatest."

MARVIS FRAZIER, JOE FRAZIER'S SON: My father felt that Ali was being sacrilegious when he called himself "the greatest."

GEORGE: So there you have it, the gripes of the fathers visited upon the daughters, causing tonight's Ali-Frazier bout to be billed as a grudge match.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the first opponent that I really cannot stand.

Jacqui Frazier, for her part, promises to give Ali a, quote, "butt kicking." Ali's record is 9 and 0, 8 by knockouts. Jacqui Frazier, with 7 KOs, has never been beaten either. One of them will lose tonight for the first time.

David George, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Tonight on the "Leading Edge," authorities are trying to figure out how a software glitch forced a halt in trading on Wall Street today. Problems with new software installed overnight forced the new York Stock Exchange to shut down for more than an hour. Most trading resumed before noon.

Now, a look at technology ahead of its time: this amazing four- watt light bulb is still burning 100 years after it was turned on. The bulb, said to be the longest burning in the world, is being honored today in its home at a California fire station

You can see a live picture of that bulb, by the way, 24 hours a day on the Internet. For the link, just go to cnn.com/wolf.

Up next, I'll open our mailbag. To kill or not to kill, that's the question on many of your minds. I'll share your thoughts on the McVeigh execution when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Time now to open our mailbag. The McVeigh execution is generating lots of e-mail. Mike from Las Vegas writes this: "This appeal was not about McVeigh, but about the FBI. They are out of control, and no one will hold them accountable."

From Carol in Colorado: "I cannot help but worry that our system of justice is more about vengeance than actual punishment."

But numerous viewers insist that if anyone deserves to die, it's McVeigh. Earl from Henderson, Texas, writes: "I wonder if Amnesty International understands that we in American have paid all of McVeigh's legal bills and have done everything we could do legally to keep him from execution. I wonder if they even know the difference between due process treatment of killers in America and those treatments in other countries."

Remember, I want to hear from you. Please e-mail me at wolf@cnn.com. And you can read my daily online column and sign up for my e-mail, previewing our nightly programs by going to our Web site, cnn.com/wolf.

That's all the time we have tonight. Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "THE POINT WITH GRETA VAN SUSTEREN" begins right now.

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