OKC Bombing Grand Jury May Be Near End

by Bill Johnson

In addition, local officials want to try Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols on 160 counts of murder in connection with the April 19, 1995, bombing. McVeigh, 30, was sentenced to death after a federal jury in Denver convicted him of being the actual bomber. Nichols, 43, got a life term on conviction of helping plan the bombing.

Federal law allowed the two to be tried for murder only in the deaths of the eight federal agents who died in the rubble. Both are appealing.

Attorneys for Nichols and McVeigh argued their rights for a fair appeal or for new trials would be violated should the evidence be turned over to state officials.

Richard Burr, one of McVeigh's attorneys, said it would allow "evidence not presented at trial, as well as evidence presented at trial," to be given to the Oklahoma officials.

"Should the unpresented, prejudicial evidence be leaked by state authorities -- as so much was by 'unnamed' federal authorities during the period preceding the federal trials -- Mr. McVeigh and Mr. Nichols will be unduly and unnecessarily prejudiced in their new trials," Burr wrote. "Such leaks will be doubled if the federal materials are shared with state authorities."

The court's order also prohibits the federal agents from going before the grand jury.

The witness who appeared before the grand jury turned over hundreds of hours of video and audio tapes, more than 1,000 photographs and diagrams. In addition, the grand jurors have received over 10,000 pages of transcripts from the McVeigh and Nichols federal trials.

There was a question, meanwhile, on just how much longer an Oklahoma County grand jury would be able to investigate the bombing.

A state law prohibits a grand jury from being in session from 30 days before to 10 days after any general, primary or primary runoff election for state or county offices. In fact, state law requires any grand jury in session when the deadline hits to be "discharged forthwith."

The six-man, six-woman grand jury appeared in open court last month to ask District Judge Bill Burkett whether they will have to disband on July 26, which will be thirty days before the Aug. 25 primary.

Gwendolyn Harton, the grand jury's forewoman, told the judge they needed to know because of the "monumental task we have been asked to undertake ... and factors which appear to be beyond our control regarding the availability of some additional witnesses who we feel are essential to our task."

Two assistant district attorneys who have been advising the grand jury told them last month the constitutionality of the law dealing with grand juries and elections has been challenged.

In 1981, the attorney general's office held that the law was unconstitutional. A similar ruling was issued in 1996, by a District Judge. No appeals court has ruled on the issue, however. The grand jury, which began meeting in June 1997, was called after state Rep. Charles Key (R-Oklahoma City) headed a successful petition drive. Key and others are convinced that the federal government at least had knowledge that the bombing was going to take place.

"We think the grand jury needs to go on," said Key, who has been traveling widely to discuss the bombing with various "citizen militia" types. "We're not telling the jurors they have to meet."

Among the witnesses who appeared before the grand jury recently were Greg and Penny James, who are experienced in forensic fire photography. They gave the grand jury some 100 photographs they said were taken from the perimeter of the Murrah building.

Penny James, a former forensic photographer for the rescue and fire department at Will Rogers World Airport, and her husband said they saw no indication of multiple bombs at the wrecked building the first day.

Conspiracy advocates dispute the government's claim that a fuel oil and fertilizer bomb in a truck driven by McVeigh could have caused all the damage. They believe other bombs were planted inside the building.

But Trooper Charles Hanger says there's only one thing wrong with that theory: it didn't happen. And Hanger says those quotes attributed to him in several of the conspiracy books about the federal building bombing are as phony as the stories about the brown pickup.

"I was in a bookstore thumbing through one of the books on the bombing ... and I was quoted in the book and I was never interviewed by anyone in relation to that book," Hanger said.

In fact, Hanger said, he was never interviewed by any of the authors of the conspiracy books now on sale.

Hanger stopped McVeigh in northern Oklahoma 75 minutes after the federal building was blown up April 19, 1995. He said he did not see any brown pickup pull over, and that no such pickup is shown on the tape from his cruiser's video camera.

Some of the conspiracy advocates claim the brown pickup was seen leaving Oklahoma City just after the bombing and was spotted again pulling off I-35 just in front of the Mercury Marquis that McVeigh was driving. They contend this proves that there were others involved in the bombing plot and that they also were in Oklahoma City that day.

Hanger, who spent 90 minutes before an Oklahoma County grand jury on Friday, said later, "I didn't see anyone stop that day."

Hanger was questioned about the brown pickup earlier by the FBI and by attorneys representing Nichols. Hanger said he reviewed the tape from his cruiser before he surrendered it to FBI agents.

He said he was on a routine patrol north of Perry on I-35 -- 77.9 miles from the federal building -- when he stopped McVeigh's car because it had no license tag. He took McVeigh to jail when he discovered McVeigh had a gun under his jacket.

"I was just out there doing my job that day, and it is all documented," Hanger said. "It was just a routine traffic stop."

And, Hanger said, he would have remembered if someone had stopped along the interstate "unless it was just a considerable distance up the road."

McVeigh was still in the Noble County Jail in Perry two days later when FBI agents arrested him for the bombing.

Hanger said he did not turn on his video camera until he arrested McVeigh. He said he had wanted to videotape his questioning of McVeigh but pushed the wrong two buttons when he tried to turn on his video camera.