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Attorney Chris Tritico says McVeigh's legal team needs more time to study documents.

From CNN Correspondent Susan Candiotti

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- Conceding they are in an "uphill fight," attorneys for Timothy McVeigh filed an appeal Thursday, challenging a federal judge's refusal to delay the Oklahoma City bomber's execution.

"What we're asking for right now is time," said attorney Chris Tritico. As the appeal was filed with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, another defense attorney, Nathan Chambers, met with McVeigh at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he is being held.

After their meeting, Chambers told reporters that he and McVeigh were awaiting the decision of the appeals court and he had nothing more to say.

VIDEO CNN Legal Analyst Roger Cossack explains how government prosecutor Sean Connelly won the ruling (June 6) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)  IN-DEPTH • Execution of Timothy McVeigh • Oklahoma City Bombing  MESSAGE BOARD McVeigh execution  ON THE SCENE Roger Cossack: McVeigh's legal options  DOCUMENTS Read documents in the McVeigh case (FindLaw) (PDF)  • Transcript of the McVeigh stay hearing, June 6  • Emergency application for stay of execution  • McVeigh brief  • Denial of McVeigh's petition for stay  • Motion to file supplemental letter under seal  • Order granting motion to file letter  • McVeigh's reply to U.S. brief opposing stay  • McVeigh's petition for stay  • U.S. brief opposing stay of execution  • Order setting time to respond  • Supplement to petition for stay  • McVeigh's response to motion to clarify Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing.  ALSO • Reaction to judge's denial of stay for McVeigh • U.S., Japan urged to end executions   LEGAL RESOURCES Latest Legal News Law Library FindLaw Consumer Center Select a topic Bankruptcy Discrimination Divorce Estate Planning Landlord-Tenant Personal Injury Taxes

McVeigh is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 a.m. (8 a.m. ET) Monday for the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. The blast killed 168 people, including 19 children, and injured hundreds more.

Defense attorneys toiled into the night Wednesday, completing the 17-page brief they filed. The appeal will likely be distributed to a three-judge panel, who would decide how to proceed.

Before the brief was filed, attorney Richard Burr said he suspected the court would invite a reply from government attorneys, and he said he hoped his team would have a chance to argue its case before the court of appeals.

Chambers spoke briefly with reporters when he arrived in Indiana overnight.

"Obviously, it's an uphill climb when you get to the appellate courts," Chambers told reporters at the Terre Haute airport. "But I'm not going to prejudge it. Let the courts make their decision."

In his ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch said defense lawyers failed to prove that more than 4,400 pages of new FBI documents contained anything that called into question McVeigh's guilt, and he rejected their claims that the government had committed a "fraud upon the court" by failing to disclose those documents at the trial.

He also said defense assertions that others may have been involved in the bombing did nothing to mitigate McVeigh's role.

"It will not change the fact that Timothy McVeigh was the instrument of death and destruction," Matsch said.

The execution had been scheduled for last month, but was delayed to June 11 by Attorney General John Ashcroft after the FBI revealed it had failed to turn over the documents.

Asked what he thought of Matsch's ruling, Chambers said the team was "disappointed but not particularly shocked."

McVeigh's lawyers continue to keep him informed of the legal developments, Burr said, and his client remains "on board" with what his attorneys are doing.

How far attorneys take their appeals will ultimately be up to McVeigh, as it has been every step of the way, his attorneys said.

"We'll do whatever the client wants us to do," Chambers said. "Whatever McVeigh wants us to do, that's what we'll do."

Chambers' visit Thursday is the fourth between McVeigh and his lawyers since Ashcroft postponed the execution.

Jeralyn Merrit, a former McVeigh defense attorney, said the bomber's "best chance" for a delay had rested with Matsch. "I don't expect that the 10th Circuit is going to change Judge Matsch's decision; however, I am hopeful that the U.S. Supreme Court will grant a stay."

Paul Howell, the father of one victim killed in the blast, said he hoped the legal wrangling would end soon.

"The only way to shut this man up and for us to get any kind of peace of mind is to actually give him the execution," he said.