Judge Denies Bid to Retry McVeigh Bombing Case

DENVER — A federal judge on Monday rejected Timothy J. McVeigh’s bid for a new trial in the Oklahoma City bombing and ordered McVeigh to appear for formal sentencing Thursday.

In a motion for a new trial filed last month, McVeigh’s attorneys contended jurors were unfairly swayed by pretrial publicity and devastating testimony from bombing survivors and victims’ relatives.

But U.S. District Judge Richard P. Matsch sided with prosecutors, who contended McVeigh received a fair trial.

McVeigh’s attorneys were not immediately available for comment.

In June, McVeigh was convicted of murder, conspiracy and weapons-related counts and sentenced to die for the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The blast killed 168 people and injured more than 500. A jury sentenced him to death by injection.

In seeking the new trial, defense attorneys singled out one juror who reportedly told another juror during the trial, “I think we all know what the verdict should be.” Matsch denied a defense request to replace the juror, saying the comment apparently was made in jest.

Prosecutors said Matsch sufficiently admonished jurors against discussing the case after the comment was brought to his attention.

The government attorneys also argued that Matsch ruled appropriately when he refused to allow parts of the defense’s case, including the full report into allegations of wrongdoing at the FBI lab.

Matsch “ensured the McVeigh trial not only was fair but indeed was close to perfect,” prosecutor Sean Connelly wrote in a brief opposing McVeigh’s motion for a new trial.

“McVeigh’s conviction was the product of a fair trial in which the evidence of guilt was so overwhelming that the jury could not rationally have reached any other verdict,” he said.

McVeigh’s attorneys could not be reached for comment.