Plans Underway for McVeigh Execution

Prison officials started making plans for the execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh, including how to accommodate possible observers. McVeigh, held on death row at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., let the deadline for pursuing appeals pass while reserving the right to seek clemency from the president. Last month, a federal judge agreed to let him drop all appeals and receive a prompt execution date. The 32-year-old Persian Gulf War veteran could be executed by injection as early as May. U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokesman Dan Dunne said the agency will not set a date until officials are confident they will have adequate staff and will be able to meet needs of victims’ relatives and survivors of the April 19, 1995, blast at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The explosion killed 168 and wounded more than 500.