McVeigh unlikely to win new trial - lawyers

Legal experts expect a judge will grant Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh’s request for an execution delay, but say he will have a hard time proving the government intentionally withheld evidence that could have helped him at trial.

McVeigh’s lawyers yesterday accused the government of perpetrating ‘‘a fraud on the court’’ by withholding evidence from the defence and ’’continuing to withhold numbers of documents.’’

They asked Denver Judge Richard Matsch to delay McVeigh’s execution, now set for June 11. Matsch scheduled a hearing for Wednesday.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said the FBI had produced ‘‘every relevant document in its possession’’ and none raises doubt about McVeigh’s guilt.

McVeigh had asked Matsch in December to end his appeals, and the government later set his execution for May 16. But in early May, Justice Department officials admitted they had found thousands of documents the defence had never seen. Ashcroft order the execution delayed.

Since then, more than 4,400 documents and 16 hours of audio and visual material have been turned over to McVeigh’s lawyers, the latest arriving Wednesday.

Scott Robinson, a defence lawyer who monitored McVeigh’s trial in Denver four years ago, said Judge Matsch will probably grant an execution delay to give McVeigh’s defence time to review the material.

But the defence will have a tough time proving federal prosecutors knowingly presented false evidence or intentionally withheld documents they knew could have helped McVeigh, he said.

’’That’s an enormous burden. A simple mistake would never suffice,’’ Robinson said.

If McVeigh cannot prove fraud occurred, he will have to provide substantial new evidence to win either a new sentencing hearing or a new trial, said former Denver prosecutor Craig Silverman.

McVeigh, 33, admitted his guilt for the first time in a book released in April, and in a letter to The Houston Chronicle he repeated that he was responsible for the April 1995 bombing that killed 168 people at the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Asked why McVeigh changed his mind, defence lawyer Richard Burr said: ‘‘He right now thinks the most important thing in his life is to help bring integrity to the criminal justice system.’’