ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997 TAG: 9704250063
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DENVER
SOURCE: RICHARD A. SERRANO LOS ANGELES TIMES
The prosecutor promised a "solid wall of evidence." The defense lawyer told the jury: "My client is innocent."
Seething with rage against his own government, Timothy McVeigh blew up the Oklahoma City federal building in a twisted plot to spark a second American revolution, a prosecutor said in opening statements Thursday.
``McVeigh liked to consider himself a patriot,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Hartzler said. ``Our forefathers did not fight innocent women and children. ... They didn't plant bombs and run away wearing earplugs.''
Jurors listened grim-faced as Hartzler, who has multiple sclerosis, leaned forward in his wheelchair and spoke softly about the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil.
``It was an act of terror intended to serve selfish political purposes,'' Hartzler said. ``The truck was there to impose the will of Timothy McVeigh on the rest of America ... by murdering innocent men, women and children in hopes of seeing blood flowing in the streets of America.''
Throughout Thursday, the prosecution and the defense turned their rhetoric on the emotions of that day.
As McVeigh's attorney, Stephen Jones, rose to give his opening statement, he took a long breath, then slowly read the names of all 168 people who were killed.
``I have waited two years for this moment'' to exonerate his client, he told the seven men and five women of the jury.
Jones noted that President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno addressed the nation within hours of the blast; 12,000 people, including the president, attended a memorial service in Oklahoma City; a $2million reward was posted for the bombers' arrests, and the FBI's investigation was the largest in U.S. history.
But, Jones said, ``The question is, did they get the right man?''
McVeigh, pale after two years behind bars, entered the courtroom smiling and at ease, shaking hands, visiting with his lawyers. Introduced to the jury, he stood, bowed his head and said, ``'Morning.''
But when Hartzler described McVeigh's hatred of the government and his alleged plans to avenge the 80 people killed during the 1993 FBI raid at Waco, Texas, McVeigh lost his smile. For the rest of the day, he sat with his forehead knotted, his eyes fixed.
McVeigh, who turned 29 Wednesday, could face the death penalty. His former Army buddy, Terry Lynn Nichols, who also has been charged in the bombing, will stand trial later.
Hartzler outlined critical pieces of evidence to show that the former Persian Gulf War hero-turned anti-government activist fashioned himself a modern-day revolutionary:
When arrested 90 minutes after the blast, he was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Abraham Lincoln and the words assassin John Wilkes Booth shouted in Ford's Theater: ``Sic semper tyrannis!'' On the back of the shirt was a quotation from Thomas Jefferson: ``The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.''
A large envelope found in McVeigh's car was full of anti-government tracts, including one from America's founding fathers that said: ``When the government fears the people, there is liberty.'' Next to it, McVeigh allegedly had written: ``Maybe now there will be liberty.''
McVeigh left behind a computer file addressed to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. It was titled ``ATF Read'' and said: ``All you tyrannical [expletives] will swing in the wind one day for your treasonous actions against the Constitution and the United States. Die, you spineless cowardice bastards.''
Hartzler said his team of prosecutors will show that McVeigh and Nichols conspired to get and store their bomb materials in public lockers around Kansas, and waited for April19 - the two-year anniversary of Waco.
But on the day of the bombing, Hartzler said, it was McVeigh alone who delivered the bomb to the Murrah building. He said residue found on McVeigh's clothing is consistent with a components of a detonation cord. And he said a piece of the inside of the truck showed crystals consistent with ammonium nitrate.
``In the end, we'll build a solid wall of evidence against McVeigh,'' he said, ``making your job of determining his guilt easy, I believe.''
Hartzler's opening spanned two hours.
Next up was Jones. He addressed the jury for not quite three hours.
Jones attacked the credibility of the government's witnesses, noting that three employees at the Ryder agency in Junction City, Kan., could not agree whether one or two people rented the truck, or whether McVeigh was one of them.
He said records from phone debit cards McVeigh and Nichols allegedly used to further a conspiracy will not hold up because they are inaccurate and confusing.
He particularly attacked Michael Fortier, an Army buddy of McVeigh, who has pleaded guilty to lesser charges and will be the government's key witness. He described Fortier and his wife, Lori, also a government witness, as heavy drug users and liars - people who would say anything to save themselves.
Jones warned jurors that they will learn that the FBI crime lab, which analyzed some of the forensic evidence in the case, allowed much of it be contaminated, and that lab officials ``slanted'' their analyses to help the prosecution.
The first testimony in the government's case will be presented today, most likely an audio tape of the blast and the shouts of terrified people in downtown Oklahoma City.
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. Justice Department workers cartby CNBevidence into the federal courthouse in Denver on Thursday. color.