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McVeigh to ask judge to end his appeals, set execution date

If an date is set, McVeigh's could be the first federal execution in more than 35 years

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- A federal court hearing is scheduled for Thursday on convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's request to stop his appeals process and face execution.

The open hearing, at 1 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET), will focus on McVeigh's request to waive additional appeals. He was convicted of murder for the April 19, 1995 bomb attack on the Murrah Federal Building that left 168 people dead.

McVeigh will not be in the courtroom during the hearing, which is expected to last between 30 and 45 minutes. He will be seen and heard via a video monitor from the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

One of his attorneys, Nathan Chambers, will be there with him. His other lawyer, Dennis Hartley, will be in the Denver courtroom, where U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch will preside. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Connelly will also be present in Denver.

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Both sides said that during the hearing, Judge Matsch will talk directly to McVeigh. The judge will inform him of the legal appellate rights he is giving up by filing his request. Matsch will also make sure that McVeigh has made this decision voluntarily and without pressure from anyone.

The law says the decision must be "a knowing, intelligent waiver." Although McVeigh decided, against his lawyers' advice, to stop the appeals process, Hartley said it's within his client's legal rights to do so.

"If a person can pick the time and place and manner of death then they can be more prepared for it. So I don't see that as something that's necessarily a bad thing," Hartley told CNN.

"I don't know why he wants to make this decision, nor could I tell you if I did know. But it could be that he's just tired, tired of the system and the lockdown is fairly restrictive. Well it's not fairly restrictive, it's absolutely restrictive."

Connelly said McVeigh did not have "many more options for appeal." But both Hartley and Connelly do not expect Matsch to ask McVeigh "why" he has decided to waive the right to further appeals. Both sides said the judge will be carefully looking and listening during McVeigh's answers for signs of competency.

Hartley said he did not know of any reason to question McVeigh's ability to make the request he is making.

"Without giving you a professional opinion from the medical field, I don't think there's anything I've seen that Mr. McVeigh is not competent to make this decision," said Hartley.

The possible outcomes of the hearing are as follows:

• The judge could request a competency hearing for McVeigh

• The judge could deny McVeigh's request to waive further appeals

• The judge could grant McVeigh's request to waive further appeals

• The judge could grant McVeigh's request and move immediately to setting a date for execution, although there is some question as to whether Judge Matsch would set that date or whether the Bureau of Prisons would set it. But by law, the execution date can be "no sooner than 120 days from the end of court proceedings."

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there have been 340 federal executions in U.S. history. The last one was in 1963, when Victor Fequer was hanged in Iowa for kidnapping.

If executed next spring, McVeigh would be the first federal execution in more than 35 years. Federal death row inmate Juan Garza was scheduled to die December 12 but President Clinton has stayed that execution for at least six months.

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Grand jury finds McVeigh, Nichols acted alone in Oklahoma bombing
December 30, 1998
Oklahoma City bombing trial
March 1997
Timothy McVeigh and the death penalty
December 1996
McVeigh, Nichols plead not guilty in bombing
August 13, 1996

Federal Bureau of Investigation
U.S. Department of Justice
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
Oklahoma State Government
Death Penalty Information Center
US Federal Bureau of Prisons

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