Posted on 04/16/2002 11:48:02 PM PDT by glorygirl
DENVER -- Five years after Timothy McVeigh's bombing trial began, court officials want to "clean out the attic" where his .45-caliber Glock pistol, his T-shirt bearing a call to arms and other trial exhibits have been locked up. The federal judge who presided over the Oklahoma City bombing case gave prosecutors and defense attorneys 60 days starting Tuesday to request the disposition of the more than 1,000 exhibits from McVeigh's trial, which began March 31, 1997.
Tulsa attorney Rob Nigh Jr., who represented McVeigh since early in the case, participated in the closed-door conference with U.S. District Judge Richard P. Matsch.
Officials of the Oklahoma City National Memorial said they hoped to receive the materials at some point.
The exhibits include mangled parts, including an axle from the Ryder rental truck that hauled an explosive mixture of fertilizer and fuel oil that McVeigh used to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995.
Other items brought into the courtroom as evidence include the T-shirt McVeigh was wearing when he was arrested by Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Charlie Hanger. The shirt reads, "The Tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
Those items and other exhibits used in the subsequent trial of co-[ 4] defendant Terry Nichols have been locked in three courthouse storage rooms.
Federal court staff members concluded recently that they needed instructions from Matsch on what to do with the space-consuming items, which include photographs and documents.
The courthouse is to be closed this fall when the court moves into a new building.
Normally, exhibits are returned after trials to the lawyers who introduced them into evidence. "But this is not a normal case," court clerk James R. Manspeaker said.
He disclosed the outcome of Tuesday's conference.
McVeigh was executed June 11, but Nichols, 47, can try to appeal his conviction and life sentence yet again. His latest appeal was denied April 5 by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
Nichols also faces 160 counts of first-degree murder in state court in Oklahoma County. The bombing killed 168 people, including eight federal officers.
Their deaths were prosecuted in Matsch's court as murders of federal agents.
Kari Watkins, executive director of the Oklahoma City National Memorial, said Monday that the group asked years ago to receive any physical evidence left from the court proceedings. She said she couldn't guarantee that the museum would display the material, but it would like to keep it.
Jane Thomas, the curator for the memorial's museum, said several small pieces of the Ryder truck were on display already, as well as a photograph of a large piece of the truck that was later used in court.
Of course, there are rumors out there that McVeigh's execution was a sham. But we would not want to upset people by posting those allegations. McVeigh is dead.
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