Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 26, 1995 TAG: 9506260154
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ENID, OKLA. LENGTH: Medium
``The principal purpose behind it is to present our client as he really is,'' attorney Stephen Jones said at a news conference at his office.
Jones wanted to counteract pictures of a stone-faced McVeigh, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, as he was led from jail two days after the April 19 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.
``The FBI wants to present him as they see him. I want to present him as he really is,'' Jones said. ``The public is entitled to know more about Mr. McVeigh than the government has released anonymously.''
The 13 photographs taken last week from prison show a grinning, youthful-looking McVeigh in a short-sleeved khaki shirt and pants. The video, released earlier Sunday to CNN, shows similar images of McVeigh sitting at a table and talking with his lawyers, even laughing at one point. It has no audio.
The news conference came a day after Newsweek released excerpts of an interview with McVeigh from the federal prison in El Reno. The interview Thursday appears in today's issue.
Newsweek said McVeigh wouldn't answer directly when asked if he bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City.
``The only way we can really answer that is that we are going to plead not guilty,'' McVeigh said.
Jones said Sunday that he instructed McVeigh not to say whether he committed the bombing.
Pressed for his personal reaction to the bombing, McVeigh told the magazine he was ``horrified'' by images of the children killed.
``It's a very tragic thing,'' he said.
McVeigh and Terry Nichols are the only people accused in the bombing, which killed 168 people and injured more than 500. Both are being held without bail under a federal anti-terrorism law that carries the death penalty. McVeigh did not attend Sunday's news conference.
McVeigh's attorney said he gave the 70-minute interview to Newsweek because of his respect for contributing editor Col. David Hackworth, whom Jones called a hero to so-called military ``grunts.''
``Hack wrote him and said that he wanted to talk with my client, soldier-to-soldier,'' Jones said.
Jones also released about 40 pages of excerpts from McVeigh's military record.
``McVeigh displayed all the skills, knowledge and attributes of an excellent leader throughout the program of instruction,'' Staff Sgt. Brad Jenkins wrote of McVeigh's performance in noncommissioned officer's school at Fort Riley, Kan., in 1990.
by CNB