Federal Judge Won’t Step Down From Oklahoma Blast Case, Selects Trial Site : Courts: Decision to hold proceedings in Lawton, about 100 miles away, draws protest from defense lawyers, who say it’s not far enough.

In a blow to both the prosecution and defense, a federal judge refused to step down Thursday in the trial of Oklahoma City bombing suspects Timothy J. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols.

U.S. District Judge Wayne E. Alley also ordered the trial to begin May 17 at the federal courthouse in Lawton, Okla.--a decision bound to please federal prosecutors, who want to keep it in this state, but one that the defense found deeply disturbing.

Alley, a former Army brigadier general who was appointed to the federal court 10 years ago by then-President Ronald Reagan, dismissed allegations from both defense attorneys and government lawyers that he and the other seven federal judges in Oklahoma City had a conflict of interest.

In a unique stand of solidarity, the defense and the prosecution cited the heavy damage that the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building had caused to the U.S. District Courthouse across the street, as well as the fact that many of the federal workers killed in the explosion were friends and relatives of courthouse employees.

But Alley said, “I have no knowledge of facts disputed in this case. And I do not harbor and have never exhibited bias or prejudice against” McVeigh or Nichols.

He said that he is “unaware” of any funerals that members of his staff may have attended after the deaths of 169 people in the April 19 blast.

The injury to one of his staff members “did not require any medical treatment,” he said. The judge said that he had “no personal or collegial relationship with any of those individuals killed in the Murrah building bombing.”

Alley also downplayed the damage to his courtroom and chambers, even though defense attorneys said that the bombing left an inch of shattered glass on his floor.

“This is insignificant,” he said. “I have experienced greater loss of courtroom time because of water leaks and utility failures.”

Although Alley’s conclusions about himself demonstrate the wide latitude of federal judges, defense attorneys nonetheless were stunned at his findings.

Nichols’ attorney said that he will file a prompt appeal with the 10th Circuit Court in Denver asking that Alley be replaced and that a change of venue be granted, barring the trial from taking place in Oklahoma.

“I want this case tried once and tried fairly and tried in a fair forum,” said Michael E. Tigar, the Austin, Tex., attorney representing Nichols. “That is what will result in the vindication of Terry Nichols.”

Tigar added that he is not attacking the town of Lawton, which is deep in southwest Oklahoma and near the Army’s Ft. Sill military base. But Lawton is just under 100 miles from Oklahoma City on the H.E. Bailey Turnpike--too close in Tigar’s mind not to have been deeply affected by the enormous loss of life in the state capital.

“It’s a beautiful city in Oklahoma,” Tigar said. “But as a venue for this case, Lawton doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me.”

Stephen Jones, an Enid, Okla., attorney who represents McVeigh, said that he will weigh whether it is prudent to challenge Alley’s decision to stay on the case.

Right now, he said, he is more concerned about the change-of-venue issue and he is worried that if the trial takes place in Oklahoma, it could become nothing more then a show of local “boosterism” against his client.

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“Probably very few people really are concerned about Tim McVeigh,” Jones said. “But in a larger sense, this case could have been an excellent opportunity to increase respect for the law. . . . Instead, this has deteriorated into a spectacle of Oklahoma boosterism.”

Jones said that a trial in Oklahoma could be attacked later by outside observers who might see it as a legal vendetta against the defendants. He said that an Oklahoma trial could lead to similar concerns here--as happened with allegations of federal law enforcement misconduct in the sieges of a white separatist’s cabin in 1992 at Ruby Ridge, Ida., and of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Tex., in 1993.

“We do not want congressional hearings about this trial,” Jones said. “We do not want an Oklahoma City-type incident in retaliation for this trial. What we want is an acceptance of the verdict of the real jury--the American people.”

“This is not,” he added, “a case about Oklahoma pride.”

Government prosecutors here, including Assistant U.S. Atty. Steve Mullins, their chief spokesman, did not react to the judge’s ruling. However, sources said that a team of government officials visited the Lawton courthouse Friday and the nearby military base--presumably where McVeigh and Nichols would be held during the trial.

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In the past, U.S. Atty. Patrick Ryan has repeatedly asserted that a fair trial could occur somewhere in the state, if not in Oklahoma City itself. But he also reluctantly agreed to join with the defense in the recusal motion for Alley only after prodding by Department of Justice officials in Washington.

In defending his decision to try the case in Lawton, the judge said that he agreed with defense attorneys that the Oklahoma City federal courthouse is “too close to the bombing target, the Murrah building.”

He also said that jury selection from a pool of Oklahoma City area residents “would be chancy.”

In contrast, he said, Lawton is convenient for local witnesses and spectators and also far enough from Oklahoma City to provide a trial that would be “detached and dispassionate” from the still-enveloping grief and mourning.

“I have tried cases in Lawton and from those experiences have formed a high regard for the qualities of jurors in that area,” the judge said. “They have been solid and good people who undertook their juror responsibilities in the spirit of public duty soberly performed.”