From: "LadyNada" 
Subject: Interesting twists - OKC bombing
Message-ID: <199511112233.OAA21635@ix5.ix.netcom.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Nov 1995 17:33:38 +0000

From: "Al Thompson" 
Originally to: chat@aen.org
Organization: American Justice Federation
Original Date: Fri, 10 Nov 95 00:18:03 -0600

Bomb theories 'ludicrous,' attorney says
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 (c) 1995 Copyright Nando.net
 (c) 1995 Scripps Howard

OKLAHOMA CITY (Nov 9, 1995 - 16:12 EST) -- U.S. Attorney Patrick Ryan
on Wednesday denounced radical extremists who upset bombing survivors
and victims' families with "ludicrous theories" such as a false report
that the government is hiding a videotape of suspects getting out of
the bomb truck.

He said prosecutors do have a videotape from an apartment building
showing the Ryder truck minutes before the bomb exploded outside the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, but it
does not show who was inside or anyone getting out.

"You can't see that there is anyone in the truck, much less who it
is," he said.

"We spend some time trying to debunk some of these theories ...
(victims) hear, but new theories come up just as quickly as you can
dispel the old theories," Ryan said during a speech in Tulsa before
the University of Oklahoma College of Law Alumni Association.

"I simply ask that when you hear these concocted stories about
government conspiracies, rigged verdicts and crooked judges that you
step forward and defend our country and system of justice. Don't let
the radicals through sheer force of will and willingness to be vocal
control what the people of this state and nation think about justice
in America."

Ryan also disclosed in the spech that the grand jury could not bring
murder counts involving all those who died inside the Murrah Building
because of questions whether the building actually was on federal
property.

The blast resulted in 169 deaths -- including 160 inside the Murrah
Building. The others were a nurse who died during the rescue and
victims on the street or in nearby buildings.

Jurors indicted Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols on 11 felony counts
-- including eight murder counts involving the eight victims who were
federal agents. Families of some victims complained the indictment
should have contained murder counts for each victim inside the
building.

But Ryan on Tuesday acknowledged in a private meeting that more counts
could not be filed because there were questions whether the building
was on federal property, The Daily Oklahoman learned. He met Tuesday
with Oklahoma County District Attorney Robert Macy and Aren Almon, the
mother of 1-year-old victim Baylee Almon.

Almon was upset after the indictment that her daughter did not warrant
her own murder count and she has called for a change in federal law.

In his speech Wednesday, Ryan said, "We could have not named all 160
because you have to be in a certain position within the United States
government to be the subject of a murder count. Because of
jurisdictional reasons that deal with federal property, we could not,
for example, have named the children in the day-care center in
separate murder counts. We're just not authorized to do that."

He said some families have felt the government does not care as much
about the children as it does about law enforcement officers. "But
nothing could be further from the truth," he said.

The revelation that the Murrah Building may not technically have been
on federal property should not affect the federal indictment but could
allow Macy to file many more murder counts in the state case.

Macy had originally planned to file eight murder counts involving
those eight victims who were outside the building.

The Daily Oklahoman


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