Time: Wed Jul 16 13:43:26 1997
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Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 12:47:57 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: Oklahoma Grand Jury hears conspiracy theory (fwd)
<snip>
>
> [IMAGE] Grand jury hears conspiracy theory
>
> Lawmaker presents his Oklahoma City bombing findings
>
> 07/16/97
>
> By Arnold Hamilton / The Dallas Morning News
>
>
> OKLAHOMA CITY - As prosecutors, defense attorneys and a judge met
> about Terry Nichols' trial, a state grand jury heard allegations
> Tuesday that others besides Mr. Nichols and Timothy McVeigh may have
> carried out the Oklahoma City bombing.
>
> State Rep. Charles Key, whose petition drive led to creating the grand
> jury, said he presented evidence that suggests Mr. McVeigh was not
> alone in the moments before the April 19, 1995, attack.
>
> Mr. Key, an Oklahoma City Republican, also said he developed
> information that indicates federal authorities may have known in
> advance of plans by anti-government factions to blow up the Alfred P.
> Murrah Federal Building.
>
> "All the truth has not been told about the Oklahoma City bombing," Mr.
> Key said after providing grand jurors with a list of 38 potential
> witnesses. "The witnesses are going to back up the fact that there
> were other people that helped Timothy McVeigh here in Oklahoma City."
>
> Federal prosecutors and investigators said they no longer believe
> others may have conspired with the two former Army buddies. Mr.
> McVeigh was convicted last month of conspiracy and murder and
> sentenced to death. Mr. Nichols' trial on similar charges is set to
> begin Sept. 29 in Denver federal court.
>
> Government agents also deny they knew in advance of a plot to blow up
> the Murrah Building. Indeed, one federal agent, Luke Franey of the
> Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, testified during Mr.
> McVeigh's trial of his harrowing escape from the top floor of the
> bombed-out federal building.
>
> In other developments in the Oklahoma City bombing case:
>
> * Mr. Key's testimony came just hours after he learned of the death of
> Glenn Wilburn, an Oklahoma City accountant who helped him spearhead
> the grand jury petition drive. Mr. Wilburn's two grandsons, Chase and
> Colton Smith, were killed in the Murrah building day-care center.
>
> Their deaths prompted Mr. Wilburn, 46, to undertake his own
> investigation of the bombing, an inquiry that convinced him that there
> was conspiracy and that ATF agents were warned to avoid the nine-story
> federal office tower that day.
>
> Mr. Wilburn's widow, Kathy, said Tuesday that her husband believed he
> was losing his prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer because of the
> stress of his grandsons' deaths and his investigation into the
> bombing.
>
> "He was definitely another victim of the bombing," she said.
>
> Mr. Wilburn's funeral will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Citychurch, only
> five blocks north of the bomb site. Mrs. Wilburn said the service will
> focus on what her husband learned in his investigation. And she said
> the funeral procession will circle around the Murrah site.
>
> A native of Olustee, Okla., Mr. Wilburn attended Southwestern Oklahoma
> State University at Weatherford before establishing an accounting
> practice in Oklahoma City.
>
> In addition to his wife, Mr. Wilburn is survived by two sons and a
> stepdaughter, Edye Smith, the mother of the two boys killed in the
> blast.
>
> * Lawyers for Mr. Nichols and government prosecutors met briefly,
> behind closed doors, in Denver with U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch
> about the summonses and preliminary questionnaires that will be mailed
> Monday to 1,000 prospective jurors.
>
> The jury will be selected from the same 23 counties in and around
> Denver that was used in Mr. McVeigh's trial.
>
> * Prosecutors formally opposed a request by Mr. Nichols' lawyers that
> a photographer be permitted to chronicle Mr. Nichols' visits with his
> wife and children at the Federal Correctional Institution in suburban
> Denver where he is being held.
>
> "One of the most important characteristics of Terry Nichols, the human
> being, is his love for his family, his wife Marife and his three
> children, Josh, Nicole and Christian," Mr. Nichols' co-counsel Reid
> Neureiter wrote in a brief seeking court authorization for the photo
> sessions.
>
> Mr. Neureiter said the photographs could be used to "give the jury a
> full picture of Terry Nichols, the human being."
>
> But Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James Orenstein argued that Mr.
> Nichols should not be allowed to "stage family scenes now simply to
> impress the jury at the penalty phase."
>
> "Prior to his arrest, Nichols had every opportunity to take family
> photos and home movies depicting his relationship with members of his
> family," Mr. Orenstein wrote. "Nichols has not revealed whether any
> such photographs or movies exist. If they do exist, they should
> suffice ... to show that Nichols is indeed a loving husband and
> father."
>
> Mr. Neureiter noted in his motion that Mr. Nichols' son, Christian,
> wasn't even born when his father was arrested as a material witness in
> the bombing case, just two days after the blast.
>
> * A federal appeals court upheld Judge Matsch's decision to seal from
> public view key court documents in the case against Mr. McVeigh and
> Mr. Nichols. The Dallas Morning News and other news media had
> challenged the judge's action, saying it violated the public's right
> to know fully about the legal proceeding.
>
> A three-judge panel from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
> Denver said it had reviewed the still-secret documents and concluded
> that "the district court properly sealed only those portions of the
> documents" necessary to ensure both men a fair trial.
>
> "It is important to bear in mind the extraordinary context of this
> case as a whole," the judges wrote. "A high-profile case such as this
> imposes unique demands on the trial court."
>
> Specifically, news organizations sought complete access to Mr.
> Nichols' motion to suppress evidence, notes compiled by an FBI agent
> during a 9-hour interview with Mr. Nichols before his arrest and
> motions by both Mr. McVeigh and Mr. Nichols for separate trials.
>
> Judge Matsch allowed edited copies of the documents to be released for
> public view, and indicated all may be released in their entirety after
> Mr. Nichols' trial.
>
> Media lawyers said the judge's action went far beyond ensuring fair
> trials.
>
> Paul Watler, attorney for The News, said the newspaper will decide
> soon whether to appeal. He said The News could decide to press the
> case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
>
>
> The Associated Press contributed to this report.
>
<snip>
========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness
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