McVeigh 'in good spirits' in final hours

Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh was today described as confronting his imminent execution in good spirits and confident he was the ‘‘victor’’ in his one-man war against the US Government.

McVeigh spent yesterday in the 9x14ft cell in Terre Haute, Indiana, a short walk from the execution chamber, writing letters of appreciation and goodbye to friends as he awaited death by lethal injection at 8am (1pm Irish time) today.

He communicated with family members on Saturday, his lawyers said.

McVeigh, 33, was sentenced to die for the 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City on April 19 1995 that killed 168 people, including 19 children the worst act of terrorism on US soil.

‘‘He once told me that in the crudest of terms, it’s 168 to one,’’ Lou Michel, co-author of American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh & The Oklahoma City Bombing, said.

‘‘He feels he is the victor,’’ said Michel, who will be one of McVeigh’s witnesses.

"He has made his point, and he’s now going on to whatever is the next step."

McVeigh lawyers Rob Nigh and Nathan Chambers met their client for about two hours yesterday.

‘‘He is calm,’’ Nigh said later. ‘‘He is prepared to go forward. ... Quite frankly, he is ready to die.’’

Nigh also conveyed McVeigh’s regrets about the people he killed, but stopped short of offering an apology, saying his client has ‘‘struggled with that mightily’’.

He has ‘‘tried to express as best he can that he is sorry for the deaths that occurred’’, Nigh said. ‘‘That is not to say that he doesn’t believe that he was right.

‘‘I don’t think there’s anything that he could say that would ever make it any better or would ever reduce the suffering,’’ Nigh added.

Chambers said McVeigh’s mood was upbeat.

‘‘He continues to be affable,’’ the lawyer said. ‘‘He continues to be rational in his discourse. He maintains his sense of humour.’’

In Oklahoma City, survivors and victims’ relatives mingled with tourists yesterday in front of a memorial to those killed. Survivor Richard Williams, who volunteers at the site, said he felt a heightened sense of anticipation as he approached the area.

‘‘I think I’m ready,’’ said Williams, who was an assistant manager at the building and had to be dug out of debris after the bombing. ‘‘I’m ready for this part of the journey to be over.’’

In a Sunday service at St Margaret Mary Church in Terre Haute, the Rev Ron Ashmore told about 80 parishioners to pray for the families who lost loved ones in the bombing. He also asked them not to condemn McVeigh.

‘‘If we approach people with harshness, if we approach people with violence whether it’s the violence of Oklahoma, or whether it’s the violence of what we reinstated in our country, capital punishment ... we create violence in our world,’’ he said.

By late yesterday 75 anti-death penalty activists embarked on a three-mile march to the prison to protest against the execution.

In Washington, the US Supreme Court on Sunday rejected without comment an attempt to videotape McVeigh’s execution, which was part of an unrelated case alleging the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment.

McVeigh, a decorated Gulf War veteran, will be the first federal inmate executed in 38 years.