U.S. Bid to Delay McVeigh Indictment Challenged

Attorneys for bombing defendant Timothy J. McVeigh accused the FBI on Thursday of maneuvering to deny them access to evidence and of intimidating witnesses.

Defense attorneys charged that prosecutors are trying to lock them out of evidence in the case by seeking to postpone by two months, until Aug. 11, the deadline for a grand jury indictment. Prosecutors are not legally required to provide the defense with their evidence until after an indictment is filed.

Defense attorney Richard Burr made the arguments in documents asking a federal judge here to refuse to extend the deadline for an indictment.

Burr also charged that prosecutors have directed important witnesses not to talk to defense lawyers. By law, prosecutors can recommend but not order that witnesses not talk to opposing counsel.

Those witnesses include the Ryder rental truck worker who leased the vehicle used to carry the bomb here and the Oklahoma state trooper who stopped McVeigh within hours of the April 19 Oklahoma City blast, Burr said.

“The government is not acting in good faith,” Burr told reporters after filing the court papers.

“They are preventing us from getting access to their case,” he said.

Government officials did not immediately react to the allegations. In their request for an extension of the indictment deadline, prosecutors contended that the extra time is needed because of the complexity of the case.

Burr demanded that prison officials begin treating McVeigh as an innocent man, rather than a convicted mass murderer. He noted that McVeigh has threatened to stage a hunger strike if a 24-hour surveillance camera is not turned off in his cell.

“Mr. McVeigh is being held, over his objection, without bail, in what is essentially punitive detention conditions,” Burr said. “He has no outside window in his cell except through a narrow skylight.

“There are no adequate exercise facilities for him. He has no social interchange with other prisoners or officials, except for a limited number of guards. While such restrictions might be appropriate if Mr. McVeigh had in fact been convicted, he has not been convicted and is presumed innocent,” the attorney said.

Prison officials deny that McVeigh is being treated unfairly.

The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing killed 168 people and injured 500. To date, only McVeigh, 27, and his former Army buddy, Terry L. Nichols, 40, have been charged in the blast.

U.S. District Judge David L. Russell is expected to rule early next week on the grand jury timetable and the defense allegations.