Jury Begins Deliberating McVeigh’s Fate

As Oklahoma City bombing survivors and relatives of victims waited anxiously, jurors in the trial of Timothy J. McVeigh began deliberating Friday after the judge warned them not to be influenced by their sympathies toward either the victims or the defendant.

The jurors ended their day’s work without reaching a verdict and are to resume deliberations this morning.

In turning the case over to the jury about 9:30 a.m. MDT Friday, five weeks after the trial began, U.S. District Judge Richard P. Matsch told the jurors to put aside anything that they might have heard or seen about the highly charged case in the past two years.

“You are to be guided solely by the evidence in this case,” Matsch instructed the panel of seven men and five women.

If jurors believe that McVeigh is guilty in the deaths of 168 people and the injury of more than 500 others--the worst mass murder on U.S. soil--they should reach that verdict regardless of whether they also think others are responsible, he said.

But if jurors conclude that the government did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, they “should not hesitate to return a verdict of not guilty,” he added.

“The question can never be, ‘Will the government win or lose this case?’ ” Matsch said. “The government always wins when justice is done, regardless of whether the verdict is guilty or not guilty.”

The judge also cautioned jurors about being overly sympathetic--either to the victims who tearfully testified about the tragedy of losing loved ones, or to McVeigh, a decorated Army veteran of the Persian Gulf War who became embittered about the federal government after washing out when he tried to become a member of the elite Green Berets.

Matsch issued specific instructions about the testimony from Michael and Lori Fortier of Kingman, Ariz., close friends of McVeigh’s in the months before the bombing.

The Fortiers testified that McVeigh told them about his plans to bomb the building. But they also admitted heavy alcohol and drug use.

“The jury,” Matsch said, “must determine whether the testimony of a drug or alcohol abuser has been affected by drug or alcohol abuse, the need for drugs or alcohol, or the threat of prosecution for drug use and possession.” Matsch instructed the jury in the law to help guide them through the specific charges against McVeigh, including allegations that he conspired to build the bomb, that he then delivered the bomb and that eight federal law enforcement officers were among the dead.

“You as jurors are sole judges of the facts,” Matsch said. “You are duty-bound to follow the law.”

And he warned them not to “allow public opinion to play any role in your deliberations.”

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If convicted, McVeigh could face the death penalty. If acquitted, he would be set free. Whatever the outcome, the county prosecutor in Oklahoma City has vowed to file state murder charges against McVeigh.

The judge set up a special room for jurors to review the hundreds of exhibits in the case, including dozens of pieces of what is left of the Ryder rental truck that held the bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on the morning of April 19, 1995.

McVeigh, 29, was arrested on a minor traffic violation just 75 minutes after the blast. Two days later, he was being held in federal custody in connection with the bombing.

His chief attorney, Stephen Jones, said McVeigh is calm and optimistic about the outcome of the jury deliberations.

“He wasn’t downcast or anything like that,” Jones said. “His demeanor was appropriate for the circumstances. He was in a good mood.”

But dozens of victims and relatives of the dead, who have sat through much of the trial here, were wracked with anxiety.

“It’s hard,” said Jannie Coverdale, whose two young grandsons were killed in the Murrah building’s day-care center and who has been at the trial almost every day. “I’ve seen and heard evidence that is very disturbing, but it’s something that has to be done.

“I guess I expect it to be hard at the end now.”

If McVeigh is found guilty, a mini-trial will begin in which the same jury will hear testimony and receive evidence to help them determine his punishment--either life in prison or death. A second defendant, Terry L. Nichols, is to be tried later. Nichols, who served in the Army with McVeigh, also has pleaded not guilty.