McVeigh's lawyers 'to apply for execution stay'

By MARY DEJEVSKY

Timothy McVeigh has given his lawyers the go-ahead to apply for a stay of execution, making it likely he will not, after all, be put to death on 11 June. Papers could be lodged with the court before the end of the week.

McVeigh, sentenced to die for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, waived all his rights to further appeals earlier this year and said he was ready to die as he did not want to spend the rest of his life in prison. A total of 168 people died in the explosion, which was the most devastating act of domestic terrorism the US has seen.

McVeigh's situation changed dramatically on 10 May, however, when the FBI revealed the discovery of more than 4,000 documents that had not been supplied to his lawyers during pre-trial preparations. President Bush's hardline attorney-general, John Ashcroft, was forced to postpone the execution less than a week before its original date of 16 May, to give McVeigh's lawyers time to examine the documents.

Since then, lawyers for McVeigh have said that he was reviewing his options.

Yesterday, however, his Denver-based lawyer, Rob Nigh, was quoted as saying that his client had decided to seek a further delay. Among the new documents is one, according to a New York Times report, that appears to validate the testimony of a witness who saw McVeigh with another man on the morning of the bombing. Prosecution lawyers had dismissed that testimony on the grounds that the witness had come forward only six months after the bombing; a cover sheet to the man's testimony, however, show that he came forward 48 hours afterwards.

The existence of an accomplice at the site of the bombing, some lawyers say, could diminish McVeigh's culpability and cast doubt on the sentence.

Last week, Mr Ashcroft said that none of the new documents cast doubt on either McVeigh's culpability or the sentence and that he would not authorise another delay.

- INDEPENDENT