Timothy J. McVeigh, who is scheduled to be executed May 16 for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing, has decided not to request clemency from President Bush because he believes it would be futile, his lawyer said today.
By allowing the midnight Thursday deadline to pass for filing a petition for clemency, McVeigh relinquished one of the last options for sparing his life. The Army veteran in December unexpectedly dropped his remaining appeals, clearing the way for him to become the first federal prisoner to be executed in 38 years.
At a news conference here today, McVeigh's attorney, Rob Nigh Jr., said McVeigh decided not to seek clemency because "the chance of obtaining relief was exceedingly small or nonexistent."
McVeigh had made his views on the subject clear in a recent letter to a home state newspaper. "I harbor no illusions that George 'The Reaper' Bush would grant me a commutation of sentence, nor would I beg any man to spare my life," McVeigh wrote the Buffalo News, obviously referring to high execution rate in Texas while Bush was governor.
Nigh added that, even if clemency were granted, McVeigh did not feel he would be "better off."
"Having nothing to look forward to but solitary confinement in a federal penitentiary does not appeal to him," the lawyer said.
McVeigh, 32, is to be executed by lethal injection six years after he detonated a massive truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds of others.
Some 250 survivors of the April 19, 1995, blast and relatives of the victims have expressed interest in witnessing the execution at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. The government is considering a closed-circuit broadcast to accommodate the victims.
McVeigh last week said in a letter to the Daily Oklahoman that he thought his execution should publicly broadcast.
"I think it's safe to say that Tim McVeigh is in favor of public scrutiny of government actions, including executions," said Nigh.
McVeigh has never admitted culpability. Nigh said it is possible that McVeigh will speak publicly and candidly about the bombing before he dies. He has cooperated extensively with two reporters from the Buffalo News for a book to be published next month.
