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U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft says the Justice Department will "do everything within its power" to prevent the videotaping

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania -- Federal appellate judges Friday blocked a lower court's order allowing Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's execution to be videotaped for possible use in another murder case.

Pennsylvania murder defendant Joseph Minerd, who faces trial on charges that an arson fire killed two people, wanted McVeigh's execution videotaped to argue against the death penalty if he is convicted, McVeigh attorney Chris Tritico said. McVeigh is scheduled to die by lethal injection Monday morning for the 1995 bombing that killed 168 people.

Thursday, U.S. District Judge Maurice Cohill Jr. ordered federal authorities to tape McVeigh's execution. In an interview with CNN, Attorney General John Ashcroft pledged his agency would "do everything within its power" to prevent the videotaping.

VIDEO CNN's Kelli Arena talks with U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft about the scheduled execution of Timothy McVeigh (June 8) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) McVeigh's lawyers announce his decision to stop legally challenging his execution (June 8) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) 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) U.S. Court of Appeals denies McVeigh's stay request, June 7 Transcript of the McVeigh stay hearing, June 6 More documents Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing.  ALSO • Who's to die? Who's to say? • 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

There will be a closed-circuit live TV feed of the execution from the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, to Oklahoma City for survivors and relatives of victims bombing. But Aschroft said videotaping the execution would violate Bureau of Prison policy.

"I don't think that an individual who kills 168 people should be in an way memorialized or aggrandized," Ashcroft said.

Richard Kammen, Minerd's lawyer, did not return repeated phone calls for comment.

According to Tritico, Minerd wants McVeigh's execution by lethal injection videotaped "so he could later show the jury an actual execution and use it as a mitigating factor if the case reaches that point."

Tritico said he got a call this week from Kammen, who told him about his client's pre-trial motion and said the judge wanted to know what McVeigh's position would be on videotaping the execution.

Tritico said McVeigh would not oppose it. He noted that after the Justice Department approved a closed-circuit live feed of the execution for survivors and relatives of Oklahoma City bombing victims that McVeigh told a newspaper he favored unilateral TV coverage of his execution so there would be "equal access" for all Americans, not just victims' families.

Explaining the position of McVeigh, who opposes capital punishment, Tritico said, "If the victims would be able to watch, everyone should."