Oklahoma City Bombing

For a long time, the people of Oklahoma City knew it was coming -- the day that Michael J. Fortier would get out of prison after serving time for his role in the 1995 bombing of the federal building that killed 168 people and injured 500. But as Fortier's release tomorrow approaches, the deal cut to secure his testimony against Timothy J. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols is again gnawing at some of the survivors and relatives of the victims. They worry about a possible future threat posed by Fortier, 37, and the undisclosed terms of his release -- in particular whether he will gain federal witness protection.

Martin Cash wants to be in the Denver courtroom, fixing his one eye so hard on Timothy McVeigh that the prisoner shudders under the stare. The bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building took Cash's left eye and gouged a piece out of his skull, and he wants McVeigh to know it.Cash and other survivors have long been ready for the trial of the man accused of the worst act of terrorism in U.S. history. "It will be a relief," Cash says. "It's about time."Nearly two years have passed since a truck bomb blasted apart the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people and horrifying the country.

When Terry L. Nichols comes to trial in Denver on Sept. 29, on charges that he helped plot the Oklahoma City bombing, his lawyers are expected to spend a lot of time trying to focus the jury's attention on one point: Terry Nichols is not Timothy J. McVeigh.They have already said so in court. At a hearing last week, Nichols' attorneys tried to block the introduction of some trial evidence -- including evidence of Nichols' anti-government philosophies. The defense objected that government prosecutors were trying "to turn Mr. Nichols into Mr. McVeigh in the eyes of the jury."

DENVER -- Timothy J. McVeigh, a Persian Gulf war veteran who believed patriotism required him to stand up to tyranny by bombing the Oklahoma City federal building, was sentenced to die yesterday for the worst terrorist attack in American history.McVeigh, 29, showed no emotion as he watched U.S. District Judge Richard P. Matsch read the death sentence. When the judge asked each juror if he or she agreed with the finding, McVeigh nodded in acknowledgment at every one.And as he was taken from the courtroom, just after the verdict was read at 3: 30 p.m., McVeigh gestured to his mother, father and crying sister and appeared to mouth, "It's OK."

DENVER -- In U.S. District Judge Richard P. Matsch's courtroom, proceedings start exactly on time. Windy lawyers are ordered to stop speechifying. Coats are not slung over chairs. There are no commercial television cameras.In Matsch's courtroom, where Timothy J. McVeigh is on trial charged with bombing the Oklahoma City federal building, attorneys are expected to be as well-prepared as the judge, to make their points and to sit down."He's the anti-Ito," says Andrew Cohen, a Denver lawyer and legal analyst.

In an article Thursday about a hearing in the Oklahoma City bombing case, the Associated Press quoted a lawyer who erroneously said that the Southern Center for Human Rights closed in 1995. The center remains open in Atlanta.The Sun regrets the errors.Pub Date: 10/05/96

1509: England's King Henry VIII married Catherine 1509: England's King Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon. 1776: The Continental Congress formed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence calling for freedom from Britain. 1919: Sir Barton won the Belmont Stakes, becoming horse racing's first Triple Crown winner. 1977: Seattle Slew won the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown. 2001: Timothy McVeigh was executed by injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.

Buchanan demands a Great Wall of China on the Rio Grande. GOP mandarins want him on the other side of it.The Oklahoma City bombing case was moved to Denver in search of a fair jury. No one in Denver has heard of Oklahoma City.What kind of country would this be if they let you buy only one measly handgun a month?Point guard Duane Simpkins owes the University of Maryland $8,000 in parking tickets. That's a lot of hours at the library.

TAXPAYERS wanting a variety of federal tax forms and instructions beyond what banks and libraries stock can get that, and advice, at the Fallon Federal Building in Charles Center. As ++ always.But they must go through security worthy of an airport. Keys and metal in the basket. Walk through a metal detector. Show ID with picture. All to pick up IRS forms in the lobby.There may be good reason for security, i.e., the Oklahoma City bombing. Still, the Internal Revenue Service should be able to find ways to make the more exotic forms available for pickup without the security and invasion of privacy.

Glenn Wilburn,46, who was so angry over the death of his grandsons in the Oklahoma City bombing and so mistrustful of the official investigation that he forced the opening of a new grand jury probe, died yesterday in Oklahoma City.Wilburn's death from pancreatic cancer came a day after the panel began hearing witnesses looking into the possibility there was a larger conspiracy and that federal agents had prior knowledge of the attack. Wilburn's grandsons, 3-year-old Chase and 2-year-old Colton Smith, were killed in the day care center of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building when it was destroyed by a bomb April 19, 1995.