Non-Subscriber Extract
Showing self-control but no remorse, Oklahoma bomber McVeigh is executed
- Article Tools
| 11 June 2001 |
By janes.com editor Peter Felstead
Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh today became the first federal prisoner to be executed for 38 years. The lethal injection process began at 0710hrs local time (1300 BST) inside the execution chamber at Terre Haute US Penitentiary, Indiana.
McVeigh, who was once affiliated with the Michigan Militia, received the death sentence for his conviction for the 19 April 1995 bombing of the Alfred P Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, OK, which killed 168 people and injured more than 500 others.
The injection administered to McVeigh contained sodium pentothal, which rendered McVeigh unconscious, and pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride, which stopped his heart and lungs. The IV line was placed in McVeigh's right leg.
According to Harley Lappin, the Warden of Terre Haute Penitentiary, McVeigh was pronounced dead at 0714hrs. Speaking at a press call following the execution, Lappin reported that McVeigh had no last words, co-operated throughout the entire process and died with his eyes open. The only slight hitch in the procedure was a delay in securing the live video feed to a gathering of survivors and relatives of victims in Oklahoma City, where 232 of 1,000 of those eligible watched the execution on a closed-circuit TV link. A high-speed telephone line was used instead of a satellite broadcast to deter attempts by hackers to break into the link.
There were 24 direct witnesses at Terre Haute: 10 survivors or relatives of those killed in the bombing, four witnesses invited by McVeigh and 10 media representatives. McVeigh made eye contact with these witnesses, acknowledging with a nod those he had invited and making a cursory glance to the government witnesses.
The media witnesses, speaking at a press call after the execution, confirmed that McVeigh had met his end in silence and seemed to have lost the arrogance that had characterised his appearances in court. Although he said nothing during the procedure, he did compose a verse expressing his last feelings, which expressed a resignation to his fate but stopped short of remorse.
According to his lawyer, Robert Nigh, McVeigh was "calm" and "ready to die" in the hours preceding the execution. Nigh said that McVeigh regretted the loss of life in the 1995 bombing, but did not believe that making the attack was wrong. His final, officially requested meal was a litre of mint chocolate chip ice cream, and he spent his last hours before being moved to the execution chamber watching TV using a small black and white set.
Opponents of the death penalty had campaigned hard for the execution to be televised, believing such a move would help their cause, but this was denied (US federal regulations prohibit any photographic or audio-visual recording of executions).
Also denied was a request from lawyers working on another death penalty case for the execution to be video-recorded. That legal team hoped that such a recording would support its argument that the death penalty violates the US consitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishments.
For a look at the US Patriot movement and US right-wing militia groups, click on the links below.
Right-wing militia groups - United States of America
The `Patriot' Movement: Right-Wing Neo-Militia Groups in the USA - United States of America