Time: Mon Jun 30 13:17:35 1997
by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id NAA07364;
Mon, 30 Jun 1997 13:15:47 -0700 (MST)
by usr06.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id NAA26345;
Mon, 30 Jun 1997 13:15:40 -0700 (MST)
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 13:13:58 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: Oklahoma holds grand jury on bombing (fwd)
<snip>
>
> Oklahomans to start forming bomb inquiry panel Monday
>
> Legislator alleges government covered up the truth
>
> 06/29/97
>
> By Arnold Hamilton / The Dallas Morning News
>
> OKLAHOMA CITY - What did federal agents know about plans for the
> Oklahoma City bombing? And when did they know it?
>
> A county grand jury to be impaneled Monday is being asked to explore
> those questions - and a plethora of others - advanced by government
> skeptics since America's worst act of domestic terrorism.
>
> The investigative panel was ordered after state Rep. Charles Key,
> R-Oklahoma City, successfully circulated a petition demanding a probe
> of what he contends was a government coverup.
>
> Mr. Key says the federal government had prior knowledge about the 1995
> attack and failed to prevent it. The government has denied that, and
> state officials have tried to block the grand jury, but the state
> Supreme Court ruled he had the right to petition.
>
> More than 13,500 qualified Oklahoma County residents - nearly three
> times as many as required to force the grand jury's impaneling -
> signed Mr. Key's petition.
>
> But some federal law officers, prosecutors and state officials have
> scorned his effort, calling it wasteful and misleading. The government
> has spent an estimated $50 million on the federal investigation and
> defense of Timothy McVeigh. Critics of the grand jury effort say it's
> unlikely anything was overlooked.
>
> "I believe a local grand jury investigation . . . is unneeded," said
> Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating. "It would be impossible for a local grand
> jury to match the most massive criminal investigation in U.S. history.
>
> "I have complete confidence in the investigation being conducted by
> the federal, state and local law enforcement officials into this
> horrific crime."
>
> Mr. Key, who helped produce the video Oklahoma City: What Really
> Happened? and occasionally speaks about the alleged government
> conspiracy at gun shows and survivalist expos, defends his effort. He
> insists the inquiry can "get to a lot more of the truth than we
> already know."
>
> The 15-member grand jury - including three alternates - will be chosen
> from a pool of 100 Oklahoma County residents, picked randomly by
> computer from state driver's license rolls.
>
> They convene Monday at the county jail downtown, about eight blocks
> south and west from the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building
> and four weeks to the day after a federal jury in Denver convicted Mr.
> McVeigh of conspiracy and murder for blowing up the nine-story office
> tower.
>
> Mr. McVeigh, a decorated Persian Gulf War veteran, was sentenced to
> death for the crime, which killed 168 people. Prosecutors depicted it
> as his revenge for what he perceived as government wrongdoing at the
> Branch Davidian siege near Waco in 1993.
>
> His former Army buddy, Terry Nichols, will stand trial on similar
> charges starting Sept. 29 in Denver.
>
> Among the areas the grand jury may consider:
>
> * Was there a John Doe No. 2, or are prosecutors right that a case of
> mistaken identity led to an innocent man being sought in the bombing?
> If there was a mysterious, olive-skinned, square-jawed accomplice
> accompanying Timothy McVeigh, who was he?
>
> * Did one bomb, packed in a Ryder rental truck, pulverize the Murrah
> Federal Building? Or were there other explosives, perhaps some
> improperly stored in the office tower by federal law officers?
>
> * Were federal agents aware of any specific threats against the
> building? And if so, did they fail to prevent the attack?
>
>
>
> Federal cooperation
>
> In at least a legal sense, the county grand jury review of alleged
> federal corruption is a late-century version of former New Orleans
> prosecutor Jim Garrison's bid 30 years ago to investigate the
> assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
>
> Federal officials refused to cooperate with Mr. Garrison then. Some
> say they aren't likely to be much more receptive to Oklahoma County's
> grand jury.
>
> Friday, Leesa Brown, a spokeswoman for the federal Oklahoma City
> bombing team, said, "We'll monitor the grand jury, and we will respond
> appropriately."
>
> It also isn't known whether Mr. McVeigh's defense team, preparing an
> appeal, will cooperate. Lead attorney Stephen Jones repeatedly has
> suggested an international conspiracy was behind the bombing, and some
> of the elements cited by Mr. Key and his supporters overlap with that
> that theory.
>
> Mr. Jones was in Washington late last week and could not be reached
> for comment.
>
> Mr. Key, a six-term state representative, said he strongly believes
> federal authorities had prior warning of the bombing plot. He also
> said he has evidence federal officials covered up information that
> could point to others involved in the attack.
>
> Federal officials dismiss both accusations as unfounded.
>
> Mr. Key said he will ask to speak directly to the grand jury, but it's
> not a certainty the panel will hear from him. Unlike Texas, where
> grand juries meet routinely to consider indictments in criminal
> matters, Oklahoma grand juries typically are convened only when
> citizens, through petition drives, demand them. Most cases involve
> allegations of public corruption that residents believe were not
> investigated thoroughly by elected officials.
>
>
>
> No guarantees
>
> According to experts, Oklahoma law gives grand juries extraordinary
> latitude to investigate whomever and whatever they want. Although the
> county's prosecuting attorney serves in an advisory capacity and the
> presiding judge selects the foreman, grand juries ultimately decide
> their own direction.
>
> While it's unlikely grand jurors would refuse to hear from the
> petition's organizer, there are no guarantees they will decide he has
> sufficiently provocative information to warrant an extensive review.
>
> "I know a lot of people are very opposed to it," said Oklahoma County
> District Attorney Bob Macy. "But the people do have the right in the
> state of Oklahoma to call a grand jury if the court finds the subject
> to be a legitimate area of investigation."
>
> Still, state officials said there are risks that such inquiries could
> interfere with the federal prosecution of Mr. Nichols or future state
> prosecution of Mr. McVeigh and Mr. Nichols. And the state officials
> said there always is the possibility that just one or two grand jurors
> with a political agenda could drag out the process.
>
> "We call these people in off the street," Mr. Macy said. "They're just
> ordinary citizens. You know very little about them when they're
> impaneled as a grand jury. There's always a possibility somebody could
> do something like Hoppy Heidelberg."
>
> Mr. Heidelberg is the Blanchard, Okla., rancher who was booted from
> the federal grand jury that indicted Mr. McVeigh and Mr. Nichols in
> the Oklahoma City bombing. He was dismissed for violating his oath of
> secrecy, going public with his concerns, he said, because he believed
> federal prosecutors were thwarting the grand jury from inquiring into
> the possible involvement of others in the attack.
>
> In the months since, Mr. Heidelberg has repeated his claims of
> government misconduct. He also predicted Mr. McVeigh would be
> acquitted, contending federal prosecutors purposely threw the case to
> serve their political agendas. And he also announced he will run for
> governor next year.
>
> "We've been fortunate," Mr. Macy said. "Most of our grand juries have
> been very responsible in that they have come in and put in full days
> and met nearly every day and were able to handle a lot of different
> matters in a very short time."
>
>
>
> Fairness is a concern
>
> No one knows for sure how long the grand jury will meet; by law it
> could remain impaneled until year's end. Mr. Macy declined to
> speculate on the time or cost, but Mr. Key predicted the panel's
> inquiry could last as long as four months. They begin their work
> Monday, as do all Oklahoma grand juries, by inspecting the county
> jail.
>
> While Mr. Key and his supporters are pleased the county grand jury
> finally will be seated, they are not necessarily confident their
> concerns will be given a fair and impartial hearing. Mr. Macy, whose
> office will advise the grand jury, fought against its creation, all
> the way to the state Supreme Court. So did the Oklahoma attorney
> general, Drew Edmondson. And the state district judge presiding over
> the grand jury, William Burkett, is a former federal prosecutor.
>
> Mr. Key announced Friday that he formally asked the state Supreme
> Court to order Mr. Macy and Mr. Edmondson to "fully and openly
> investigate this crime."
>
> He said he and his supporters filed the request because there is no
> mechanism in the state's grand jury laws to remove a prosecutor or
> seek appointment of a special prosecutor not tied to the attorney
> general's office.
>
> While successful in forcing the grand jury, Mr. Key has been ridiculed
> publicly by some of the state's leading elected officials. And the
> state's two largest newspapers also railed against him.
>
> "The last thing Oklahoma needs is a state grand jury to redo the
> federal investigation," the Tulsa World said in an editorial.
>
> The Daily Oklahoman, a frequent critic of the federal government,
> urged Mr. Key to drop his grand jury efforts, saying his "meddling
> borders on pandering." The paper also said Mr. Key "seems determined
> to help conspiracy theorists from across the political spectrum create
> the equivalent of the grassy knoll in Dallas."
>
>
>
> Staff writer Lee Hancock in Tyler contributed to this report.
>
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>Unsub info - send e-mail to majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com, with
>"unsubscribe liberty-and-justice" in the body (not the subject)
>Liberty-and-Justice list-owner is Mike Goldman <whig@pobox.com>
>
>
========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness
B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine
tel: (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night
email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.2 on 586 CPU
website: http://www.supremelaw.com : visit the Supreme Law Library now
ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best
Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone
Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this
As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall
not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal.
========================================================================
[This text formatted on-screen in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]
Return to Table of Contents for
Supreme Law School: E-mail