Anyone following the OKC Bombing Trial?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-25-2003
Anyone following the OKC Bombing Trial?
2
Tue, 04-20-2004 - 5:06pm
It's really raising a lot of questions about what really happened.

Oklahoma City Bombing Was Taped

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&u=/ap/20040419/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/mcveigh_video&printer=1

The only video prosecutors introduced at trial showed the Ryder truck without any visible passengers as it passed a security camera inside a high-rise apartment building a block away from the Murrah building.

But the Secret Service log reported on April 24 and April 25, 1995, that there was security footage showing the Ryder truck pulling up to the Murrah building. The log does not say where such video came from or who possessed it.

A log entry on April 25 states that the security footage allowed agents to determine the time that elapsed between suspects leaving the truck and the explosion.

An entry a day earlier on the same log reported that the security video was consistent with a witness' account that he saw McVeigh's getaway car in the lead before a woman guided the truck to its final parking spot in front of the Murrah building.

"A witness to the explosion named Grossman claimed to have seen a pale yellow Mercury car with a Ryder truck behind it pulling up to the federal building," the log said. The witness "further claimed to have seen a woman on the corner waving to the truck."

A Secret Service agent named McNally "noted that this fact is significant due to the fact that the security video shows the Ryder truck pulling up to the Federal Building and then pausing (7 to 10 seconds) before resuming into the slot in front of the building," the log said. "It is speculated that the woman was signaling the truck when a slot became available."

Defenbaugh said the FBI had talked to several witnesses suggesting two people had left the truck, but prosecutors never introduced the scenario at trial because it couldn't be corroborated. That's why a new security video would be significant, he said.

"It would have taken the investigation in a very specific direction," Defenbaugh said. "Rather than having to go down an eight-lane highway during rush hour, we would have gone down a faster path with just two or four lanes."

Defenbaugh said the FBI kept a log similar to the Secret Service document inside the Oklahoma City investigation command center that might help solve the mystery of the video. Justice officials declined to discuss documents, citing the ongoing Nichols' trial.

In addition to the witness mentioned in the Secret Service document, a woman working in Murrah's Social Security (news - web sites) office who was rescued from the rubble and a driver outside the building both reported to the FBI seeing two men leave the truck, according to government documents.

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Here's testimony from the trial that also indications McVeigh had a female accomplice.

Warning: It's fascinating testimony, but extremely graphic.

http://claytoncramer.com/weblog/2004_04_18_archive.html#108241053990771572


On the subject of part of an extra leg that was recovered:

Q. Would you tell me, please, how large P71 is.

A. P71 weighs a little over 8 kilograms, and I believe it was 16 inches. I -- that might not be absolutely correct, but it involves the lower part of the thigh, the leg itself, and the foot.

Q. All right. So it is below the knee?

A. No, just above the knee.

Q. I'm sorry. Just above the knee?

A. Just above the knee.

Q. And you said it weighed how much?

A. I think it was a little over 8 kilograms.

Q. And what would that be in pounds?

A. If we multiplied by 2.2, it would come out to perhaps 18 pounds, or something.

...

Q. And Ms. -- and the -- I don't want to mention the person's name, but the person who was buried without the leg -- that leg has still not been recovered?

A. The person buried without the leg --

Q. Not talking about the person that we exchanged legs with, but the other person -- you know who I'm talking about --

A. Oh, yes.

Q. -- that was buried without a leg? That leg has never been recovered?

A. That's right. We have one buried without a leg that we have never recovered a leg for. That's correct.

Q. Now, you have done some examination and testing and work on the leg that you have as P71?

A. That's correct.

Q. Based on the work that you've done, you believe that leg belongs to a female?

A. We don't have any good scientific evidence to prove that at this point yet, but that is the impression that Dr. Balding and I have. But it's an impression; it's not a scientifically quantifiable thing.

Q. I understand. And you've also measured the bones in the leg, this P71?

A. That's correct.

Q. And based on the measurement of the bones, can a scientist such as yourself estimate the height of the person that the leg belongs to?

A. Yes.

Q. And have you done that?

A. We -- yes. We took the measurements of the bones done by an anthropologist and looked at the tibia and put it into standard formulas that you can look up, and it comes out to be about 5' 4" to 5' 6" maximally. It depends on whether it turns out to be male or female, black or white as to what statistically one would expect the height to be, but it's short.

Q. A relatively short person?

A. If it's a woman, it's not too short. If it's a man, it probably is.

The defense brought forth an expert witness who testified that this spare leg might have been someone who at the scene of the bombing--and the rest was vaporized. This particular expert witness has published work about an IRA bombing which left remains of eight men--and nine penises. From the testimony of Dr. Thomas Marshall, State Pathologist for Northern Ireland:

Q. Based on your review of the forensic medical evidence in this case which you have reviewed, have you drawn a conclusion concerning P71?

A. I have.

Q. And what is that conclusion?

A. The conclusion is that this is an extra left leg.

Q. Which the ultimate result of that is what?

A. The -- until shown otherwise, this must be an extra victim.

Q. 169th victim?

A. 169th victim.

Q. Do you have an opinion concerning the proximity of the 169th victim to the bomb truck?

A. It falls into the category of finding a portion of the body and nothing else that is identifiable.

Q. What is the significance of that to you?

A. To be disintegrated so completely, you have to be near the bomb.

...

Q. What would happen if a person were standing close to the bomb site but a portion of the body was shielded in some way?

A. Well, this is one way in which a part of the body could remain intact and the rest of the body disappear.

Q. Can you give an example of that?

A. Well, there's a case I -- I've published that -- where a bomb went off as a terrorist carried it into a shed, and eight people were killed and others were injured. And as we were doing the eighth autopsy, our attention was drawn to some parts of body -- unidentifiable parts, little bits of muscle and skin which had been collected into a -- a bag. And at the end of the eight autopsies, I started to examine this, and most of it was quite unidentifiable apart from saying this is a strip of skin and that's a bit of muscle. But in and amongst this, I eventually came across a penis, and none of the eight bodies had lost a penis and neither had any of the injured; and the only conclusion was that that was a ninth victim. And the only conclusion was that he was carrying -- touching the bomb when it went off to be so badly disintegrated.







Renee

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Wed, 04-21-2004 - 9:24am

Yes I've been following the trial. I've always thought

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Sat, 06-12-2004 - 10:15am
Update: Jury deadlocks, sparing Nichols from death penalty.
Oklahoma City bomber faces life either with or without parole.

Convicted of 161 counts of murder in the Oklahoma City bombing, Terry Nichols was spared the death penalty for a second time Friday.


The jury in his state trial said it was deadlocked over whether to execute Timothy McVeigh's accomplice.


Pittsburg County District Judge Steven Taylor will determine Nichols' sentence August 9. His options are limited to life in prison either with or without the chance for parole.

 


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