Convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh will seek a stay of his impending execution in the wake of the government's discovery of previously undisclosed evidence in his case, his lawyers said here today.
His legal team plan to file a request for a stay of execution with the Denver judge who oversaw McVeigh's 1997 trial later today, his attorneys told reporters following a meeting with their client.
"This decision was not easy for Mr McVeigh. He had prepared to die and he was ready to die on May 16th, of 2001," said attorney Rob Nigh.
But after considering the effect of his actions on his family, the victims of the 1995 bombing, and the town of Terre Haute, he had decided to resume his legal battle against the federal government "on principle", Nigh said.
"He is convinced that the Department of Justice and the FBI will not otherwise be held to account unless he takes this decision," he explained.
Attorney General Mr John Ashcroft announced earlier this month that he was postponing McVeigh's scheduled execution from May 16th to June 11th to give the bomber's legal team a chance to review more than 4,000 pages of evidence that should have been turned over them prior to his trial.
Mr Ashcroft has insisted that the evidence does nothing to undermine McVeigh's conviction or sentence, and that he will oppose any further delays in the bomber's execution.
But Nigh and his colleagues suggested that the evidence was germaine to his case and could form the basis for a request for a new trial.
AFP