2 Defendants in Bombing Sent to Colorado

The two men accused in the Oklahoma City bombing were moved under cover of darkness and extremely heavy security early Saturday from Oklahoma to a federal prison near Denver, where they will stand trial.

Timothy J. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols, previously held at a federal prison in El Reno, Okla., arrived at 1:25 a.m. MST aboard a Defense Department jet at Jefferson County Airport northwest of Denver.

Heavily armed guards sealed the airport area before their arrival. Then, instead of being driven, McVeigh and Nichols were flown by helicopter to the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution in the Denver suburb of Englewood.

When marshals arrived at the prison with the two men, the road was closed and more helicopters hovered overhead, said Richard Lane, an attendant at a nearby all-night service station.

Details of the move and the conditions of their confinement were being kept confidential for security reasons, said a statement from Warden W.A. Perrill and U.S. Marshal Tina Lewis Rowe.

McVeigh and Nichols are scheduled to go on trial later this year on federal murder and conspiracy charges in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building. The blast killed 169 people and injured more than 500.

An attorney for McVeigh, Stephen Jones, said Saturday from Enid, Okla., that his client’s confinement at El Reno had caused “emotional and physical” problems.

Jones said the problem would have been worse if McVeigh had stayed at El Reno in strict isolation the entire time from his arrest until the trial’s scheduled start late this year.

Jones said that while McVeigh will still be kept away from other inmates at Englewood, prison officials had assured him the isolation won’t be as stringent as at El Reno. He wouldn’t give details but said the isolation was for his client’s protection as well as security.