Bomber goes silently to death

TERRE HAUTE - Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection in the US Federal Prison at Terre Haute, Indiana early this morning.

Prison warden Harley Lappin said he was pronounced dead at 12.14 am (NZT) after being injected with a lethal mix of drugs.

He made no last statement.

McVeigh, who admitted planting the bomb that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City in April 1995, spent the last 24 hours of his life locked in an isolation cell next to the execution chamber.

The cell had a narrow bed, a toilet, a television and a window which allowed a guard to check on him.

He was moved there from his cell in the prison block on Sunday morning, on the way glimpsing the moon for the first time in years, said one of his lawyers.

Two hours before the appointed time of his death, all visitors were ordered to leave and a hotline was opened to the US Department of Justice in case of a last minute reprieve.

With an hour to go, McVeigh was searched and changed into khaki slacks, a T-shirt and soft slippers.

He was then put under restraint and taken to the green-tiled execution chamber.

Waiting in four separate observation rooms were the witnesses - four selected by McVeigh, ten from victims' families, ten from the media, and Government officials.

But curtains were drawn across the observation windows while McVeigh was being prepared for execution.

He was strapped into the gurney - a brown plastic dental-type chair - with head and back rests tilted up at a 40-degree angle.

An intravenous drip was inserted into his right leg and he was covered with a sheet up to his neck.

Only then were the curtains drawn back so those in the observation rooms could witness the last moments of his 33-year life.

One of the reporters who watched the execution, Byron Pitts of CBS News, said McVeigh made deliberate eye contact with each of the witnesses, including the relatives of the victims and the media, and nodded to them.

But he said nothing. Instead, for his last statement he had given Mr Lappin a copy of Invictus, a defiant 19th century poem by William Ernest Henley which ends: "I am the master of my fate / I am the captain of my soul."



Before the execution order was carried out, an official picked up a red phone in the corner of the room to make one final check with the Justice Department to make sure there was no last-minute reprieve.

With the formalities out of the way, the executioners began to administer the drugs.

First, they gave McVeigh a barbiturate to put him to sleep.

Next came a muscle relaxant to stop his breathing by paralysing his lungs and diaphragm.

Finally, a dose of potassium chloride stopped his heart.

Reporters described him as taking a couple of "gulping breaths" followed by a number of shallow breaths before he died with his eyes open.

The execution was delayed by several minutes because of problems with the video feed to Oklahoma City, where 350 relatives of the victims were watching on closed circuit television.

Warden Lappin said McVeigh was fully cooperative at all times, positioning himself on the gurney so the drip could be inserted in his leg.

McVeigh was the was the 717th person to be executed in the United States since 1976, when a Supreme Court ruling ended a moratorium on the death penalty.

From all accounts, McVeigh approached his doom in a calm and collected manner, spending his last day watching television, meeting his lawyers and talking to the prison warden and other staff.

For his last meal he was allowed to choose anything from a local restaurant provided it did not cost more that $US20 ($48).

He chose one litre of mint chocolate chip icecream, which he ate at lunch time on Sunday (5 am yesterday NZT).

McVeigh's body was to be cremated and the ashes given to his lawyers, who will scatter them secretly.

One of the lawyers, Chris Tritico, said the exact disposition of the ashes would remain a closely held secret forever.

- REUTERS