What McVeigh Knows
And who wants him silenced.

By NR’s John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru
May 16, 2001 2:25 p.m.

lenty of people are understandably upset that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh won't leave this world today, as he had been scheduled to do before the FBI snafu delayed his departure until at least June 11. First among them may be Terry Nichols, the man sentenced to life imprisonment for involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy four years ago for his role in the bombing. Nichols dodged first- and second-degree murder charges back then, but recent statements by McVeigh suggest that perhaps he shouldn't have. In the book American Terrorist, by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, McVeigh says that Nichols helped mix the chemicals that led directly to the deaths of 168 people on April 19, 1995.

McVeigh may not be a credible witness, and it's far from clear a new trial for Nichols would change the last result or do any good. (Over the weekend, incidentally, Nichols appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court — which turned down a previous appeal only last month — on the grounds that the FBI's failure to turn over documents compromised his defense.) The point is that executing criminals — even the worst ones imaginable — may hamper the ability of prosecutors to pursue justice in other, related areas. The most compelling case for capital punishment is a moral one, of course, and so is the most compelling case against it. This, it would seem, is a practical reason for thinking twice.

The public seems not to care. In a recent Newsweek poll, 72 percent say they support the death penalty for McVeigh, even though another 55 percent "think other co-conspirators were involved." Perhaps this is the residue of the search for "John Doe Number 2," who the FBI now says is an actual person who had nothing to do with any of this — or even the predictable result of a generation weaned on JFK assassination theories and gripped by a cynical sensibility that says full justice never will be done. One thing's for sure: The death of McVeigh would silence a heinous man, and then hand a megaphone to others. Gore Vidal, who McVeigh has personally chosen as a witness to his execution, says he's thinking about writing a screenplay. Oliver Stone, call your office.

On the Site
Carl M. Cannon makes a conservative case against capital punishment.

Responses to Cannon by John O'Sullivan, William Tucker, and Peter L. Berger.