Oklahoma bomber reconsiders 'I want to die' decision

Lawyers for Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh say he is reconsidering his position on wanting to be executed after learning the FBI failed to disclose evidence in his trial.

Lawyers for Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh said he is reconsidering his position on wanting to be executed after learning the FBI failed to disclose evidence in his trial.

The FBI’s lapse has prompted members of the US Congress to urge hearings into how it happened, and one Democrat wants President George W Bush to appoint a high-profile commission to review the FBI.

McVeigh was to have been executed on Wednesday for the bombing on April 19, 1995, of the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people, including 19 children. But the execution has now been postponed until June 11.

He has not instructed his defence team to pursue a particular legal strategy. But Attorney Robert Nigh said when McVeigh made his original decision not to pursue further appeals, he had no idea the FBI had withheld evidence.

‘‘In light of that, it’s completely reasonable for him to re-evaluate his position,’’ Nigh said. ‘‘The facts of the case are now certainly at issue.’’

McVeigh ‘‘has indicated now that he is at least willing to take a fresh look at things, hear our analysis of the facts contained within the documents and our legal analysis of his options’’, Nigh said.

A second defence lawyer questioned whether the FBI had disclosed all evidence. ‘‘Are we going to learn next week that there are yet more documents?’’ Nathan Chambers said.

‘‘There are a lot of questions that a lot of people have for the FBI, and as we move forward in these next few days, that question will be one that is answered,’’ said Mindy Tucker, spokeswoman for Attorney General John Aschcroft.

A former prosecutor in the case said she believed the blunder was unintentional and that the documents should not affect the outcome of the case.

‘‘He has confessed to the crime. The evidence during the trial was absolutely overwhelming,’’ Beth Wilkinson said.

‘‘I believe it is very unlikely that there will be any information that would be useful to Mr McVeigh.’’

Just days before McVeigh was to be executed, the FBI disclosed that some 3,135 investigation materials including interview reports and physical evidence such as photographs, letters and tapes were withheld from McVeigh’s lawyers.

The defence team has just begun reviewing the documents and Nigh said he was not prepared to disclose what was in them. He did, however, contend that ‘‘the fact of the production itself could possibly change the legal outcome of the case’’.

McVeigh, who is in a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, had indicated he ‘‘did not wish to spend the rest of his life in an 8x12 cell’’, Nigh said. But that was after losing court appeals, and before the new evidence now available to him, the lawyer said.

Asked about trying to put off the execution beyond June 11, Nigh said: ‘‘It is his case, and he has to determine what he wants to do.’’