NEW
YORK, May 29, 2001 (CBS) Four FBI agents involved in the Oklahoma
City bombing investigation have told 60 Minutes II that they were
not surprised that evidence was not turned over before trial,
causing a delay in the execution of Timothy McVeigh.
One agent says evidence that he personally obtained - evidence
that might have helped McVeigh's case - may have been ignored or
not documented by the FBI. Rob Nigh, McVeigh's attorney, says the
new information will change the course of his client's case in
the near future.
Rick Ojeda received a commendation for his work on the Oklahoma
City bombing case, but was later fired in what he calls an act of
retaliation for bringing discrimination complaints against his
bosses. In March 2000, Ojeda stated in a letter to Sen. Charles
Grassley (R-Iowa) that he was aware of cases, including the
Oklahoma City bombing, where exculpatory evidence was ignored and
not documented. He also said that he personally gathered some of
that evidence.
"I started thinking and I started going back and checking to
see if some of the information that I had provided had ever been
mentioned at trial, and I talked to a couple of agents that
worked the case and asked them about leads that I had done -
whether they were ever brought up," says Ojeda. "I even
asked them to check to see if some of the [documents] that I had
mentioned had ever been turned over and they couldn't find them
and so I started to wonder if the stuff had been withheld or just
lost, which was common," says Ojeda.
Veteran FBI agent Jim Volz was also on duty the day McVeigh
destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah federal building. He reviewed the
FBI's internal documents on the bombing, including interview
notes, witness statements, sightings and tips. "It's
extremely surprising to me that these documents all of a sudden
show up," says Volz. "There's no reason for it unless
there is negligence."
Dan Vogel was the FBI's public voice in Oklahoma City during the
bombing investigation. Vogel says he's concerned that the FBI
waited until a week before McVeigh's execution to reveal the
missing documents. "If you're not turning them over, you're
obstructing justice," says Vogel.
"There was as cultural problem in the FBI that needed to be
addressed, otherwise it is going to destroy itself," says
Vogel. "You see the FBI is made up of a lot of very fine,
dedicated people. And these people deserve better, the American
public deserve better, and these recent revelations where we have
a man scheduled for execution and all of a sudden we find
documents that haven't been turned over to the defense attorneys
or to the prosecution a week before the execution, that really
made up my mind, after that there was no question in my mind that
I needed to come here today and do whatever I could to - to try
to get this changed."
60 Minutes II shared the information provided by the FBI agents
with McVeigh's attorney Rob Nigh. "That information should,
at minimum, change the course of this case in the near
future," says Nigh. "If those statements [provided by
the FBI agents] are accurate, the verdict has no integrity and we
cannot possibly proceed with an execution until we know... These
agents have indicated that there is at least a possibility of
misconduct rising to the level of criminal misconduct in Tim
McVeigh's case. The importance of this information cannot be
overstated... I was absolutely overwhelmed."
In all, 4,034 pages of materials about the April 1995 bombing of
the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building have been found that should
have been turned over to McVeigh's attorneys years ago. The FBI
says computer and record-keeping blunders caused the problem and
that some documents were not material to the case.
McVeigh's execution was delayed this month until June 11 after
Justice Department officials acknowledged the existence of the
documents.
Attorney General John Ashcroft Thursday insisted none of the new
evidence bears on McVeigh's conviction or sentence and said no
further delay would be necessary.
Nathan Chambers, a member of McVeigh's legal team, said Saturday
he could not comment on any of the FBI documents. He said
attorneys had not yet decided whether to seek a new trial or a
stay of execution.
A court order prevents the Justice Department from releasing the
evidence to the public or describing it in detail. Among the
evidence found, according to Ashcroft, were:
Newspaper, magazine clippings and a swimsuit calendar from a
person in psychiatric care. "Most of these clippings did not
pertain to the bombing," the attorney general said.
Correspondence from a person offering unspecified information in
exchange for getting a person released from prison, a large cash
award and a trip to Europe. Letters containing information about
"non-physical beings" and "offers by psychics to
contact victims for information on the bombing." Documents
recording services of subpoenas and other routine legal matters.
Ashcroft Thursday said the evidence also contained fingerprint
cards and criminal history reports of "persons who turned
out to have no connection to the case."
The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Reichstag Fire
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