All McVeigh Files Turned Over, Ashcroft Says

Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft vowed Thursday that there will be no further delays in the execution of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh, saying all of the missing FBI files in the case have now been turned over to defense attorneys and that most of them would never have “qualified as evidence” in his trial.

Ashcroft also described for the first time the newly disclosed documents, which now number more than 4,000 pages. He characterized them as mostly frivolous and irrelevant to the case, including one file consisting of newspaper and magazine clippings and a swimsuit calendar sent in from a “person under psychiatric care.” Another was from someone demanding a large cash reward and a visit with European royalty.

McVeigh had been scheduled to die May 16, but Ashcroft postponed the execution until June 11 when it was suddenly learned that the FBI had not given about 3,135 pages of documents to his defense lawyers. Since then, Ashcroft said, 898 additional pages have been discovered and turned over.

He added that he now has confidence there are no more missing pages.

“I delayed this execution by a month to give McVeigh’s lawyers sufficient time to exercise his legal rights,” Ashcroft said. “I will not delay the sentence of a confessed mass murderer. I will not delay his sentence further on the basis of documents which cast no doubt about his guilt.”

Ashcroft’s announcement sets up a climactic showdown in federal court in Denver, where McVeigh’s attorneys--with his permission--are expected to ask a judge for yet another delay.

They want to continue to pore over the new documents to determine whether McVeigh’s death sentence should be set aside or whether a new trial is warranted.

“Suffice it to say that for all the frivolous examples given by the attorney general, there are very substantial investigative documents as well,” said Rob Nigh, one of McVeigh’s lead attorneys.

But Ashcroft warned that if the defense does seek a second delay, the tactic “would be opposed vigorously by this department.”

The attorney general maintained that, after Justice Department lawyers reviewed all 4,000 pages, “no documents created any doubt about his guilt, let alone established his innocence.”

He also noted that McVeigh has confessed to the April 1995 blast, which killed 168 people and injured more than 500 others. Earlier, McVeigh had dropped all of his legal appeals and said he was ready to die.

Ashcroft, in explaining his confidence that all of the missing files are now in hand and turned over to the defense, said they came in through a “worldwide alert” posted earlier this month by the FBI, after the first 3,135 pages were found.

The additional 898 pages came from FBI field offices in Baltimore, Denver and Oklahoma City, surfacing after the execution was delayed.

Compared with the massive amount of material already handed over by federal authorities in the biggest case in FBI history, Ashcroft said the 4,000 pages still represent “only a small fraction of 1% of the total number of produced documents in this case.”

He added that he is sure everything has now been accounted for.

“FBI Director Louis [J.] Freeh has certified to me that the FBI has completed its search and produced every relevant document in its possession,” Ashcroft said.

“Also at my request, every special agent in charge of every FBI office has certified that all documents pertaining to the McVeigh case have been produced by that special agent’s office.”

But Nigh said the defense team simply cannot trust the FBI or federal prosecutors to have located and turned over everything.

“We have no confidence that all the documents have been handed over,” he said.

Rather, he added, “we have a growing confidence that there are more documents still out there. We do not understand how the attorney general can make such a declarative statement, given the events of the last two weeks.”

A court order prevents either side from releasing copies of the new material. But Ashcroft characterized several of the documents:

* A lengthy collection of newspaper and magazine clippings, including photos from a swimsuit calendar. “It was sent in by a person under psychiatric care,” Ashcroft said, and “most of these clippings did not pertain to the bombing.”

* A long, handwritten letter offering unspecified information in return for an enormous cash reward, the release of someone from prison, and a trip to Europe to meet with royalty.

* Various letters involving information about “nonphysical beings” and offers by psychics to contact the dead victims for information about the bombing.

The report also discussed the new material dealing with “John Doe No. 2” and an FBI composite sketch that was used to locate him.

This turned out to be an unidentified man whom some witnesses believe helped McVeigh rent a large Ryder truck in Kansas to carry the fertilizer and fuel oil bomb to Oklahoma City.

The government has since maintained that the witnesses confused McVeigh’s visit to the truck agency with another visit by two other men, and prosecutors at his trial said McVeigh was alone when he rented the truck.

McVeigh recently said that there was no John Doe No. 2, in a letter he sent from prison just days before prosecutors announced the new missing files.

“Any reliance by McVeigh at this late date upon alleged JD2s or other alternative perpetrators would be at odds with his recent and explicit admissions that no such person existed,” the report said.