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| RICHARD BURR | |
 June 8, 2001  |
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Richard Burr, one of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's lawyers, discusses the case and upcoming execution.
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ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Timothy McVeigh halted all legal efforts to stay his execution yesterday shortly after the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denied his emergency appeal for a delay. This clears the way for a Monday execution. For more on that and what lies ahead we're joined by one of Timothy McVeigh's attorneys, Richard Burr of Houston, Texas. Mr. Burr, walk us through what happened yesterday. |
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| Stay denied | ||||||||||||||||||||
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RICHARD BURR: Well, we filed our brief in the 10th Circuit Court of
Appeals early in the morning, and the clerk said we would hear from
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: What were the options that you might have pursued and that you urged him to pursue? RICHARD BURR: Sure. We were prepared to and certainly had hoped he would allow us to file a petition for writ of certiorari, a discretionary review petition in the Supreme Court, and asked for a stay of execution there. We had already begun working on that petition and were prepared to file it this morning quite early. But Mr. McVeigh just did not want to proceed. Really the day before, after Judge Matsch announced his ruling, he was, you know, he was all right, at least for a while after that. But then one of our… my colleagues had seen him yesterday morning, and he had told him that he probably did not want to proceed in the Supreme Court, and then late in the afternoon, yesterday, he made that very clear to us, that he just did not want to go forward anymore. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Why? RICHARD BURR: Well, for a long time I have been in and out of Tim's case. I was one of his trial counsel. He never had any faith in the federal judiciary. And he did have faith in his lawyers. We developed a good relationship and he allowed us, I think, because he respected us, to do our work. And that could only carry him so far. And I think part of the reason that he decided not to appeal any further back in January was that he just didn't have the heart to do it. He didn't believe in it. He knew for himself what the outcome would be and he saw no reason to forestall what was an inevitable end for him. And to somehow give the system the appearance of doing justice.
RICHARD BURR: We were contacted by the lawyers for that client, the man in a pre-trial federal capital prosecution in Pennsylvania, and passed the request on to Mr. McVeigh on Tuesday, I believe it was of this week. And Mr. McVeigh quite readily agreed to have his execution taped. He said that if it would help somebody else not be put to death, he would be glad to have his execution videotaped. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Mr. Burr, have you or any of the other lawyers spoken to him today? If so, what is he saying? |
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| Time to himself | ||||||||||||||||||||
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RICHARD BURR: None of us have had contact with him today. Yesterday he made it clear that he just needed some time to himself today and tomorrow. He is going to see two of us on Sunday. But he simply wanted to be left alone. We know that he corresponds with a number of people. And I suspect he's writing notes to many, many people. And I think he just needs time to himself. He is a thoughtful man, and a man who is introspective and he has a lot of work to do to be ready for Monday. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: In past conversations, what has he said about an execution?
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Mr. Burr, have you heard a statement of regret from Timothy McVeigh about the bombing beyond his statement about the children -- which he called collateral damage, which he regretted? RICHARD BURR: Mr. McVeigh time and again throughout my relationship with him expressed the view to me that he did not feel happy that so many people died, but that the target for him of this act was the federal government. And he said that the federal government's attention can only be gotten if there are people killed. That's the only way you get this government's attention. So he felt that because this was a mission that he defined in military terms, that there had to be a significant damage in order to get the government's attention. That's not a way of justifying what happened at all, but simply a way of trying to, in a small way, to try to understand how he thought about it. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: What happens next this weekend and Monday morning? RICHARD BURR: Well, he will be meeting with two of my colleagues on
Sunday. All of the lawyers will be gathering in Indiana over the weekend.
Two will meet with him Sunday. Those two will also be with him quite
early Monday morning before the execution. It is my understanding that
they will be allowed to see him one more time a couple of hours before
the execution. Those two will also witness the execution as his witnesses.
Then it will end. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Has he been moved from his cell to the building where the execution will take place? RICHARD BURR: I don't know. ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: All right. Richard Burr, thank you very much for being with us. |
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them sometime during the day. We heard nothing for quite a while, and
at some point set up a call for Mr. McVeigh to call us at the office.
We were working out in Denver. At nearly the same time he called, the
clerk of the 10th Circuit called to tell us that the circuit had denied
his stay. So we were able to tell Mr. McVeigh immediately what the circuit
had done. 
ELIZABETH
FARNSWORTH: As Jim reported, there is a legal battle today over videotaping
the execution. And what is his view about that? 
RICHARD
BURR: He has said time and again with us that he did not fear death.
That goes back a long way for him. As most people know, he was a decorated
soldier in the army. And he was fearless as a soldier. I don't know
if facing one's certain death is as easy to be fearless about as one's
uncertain death in battle. But he is certainly steeling himself against
this moment and suppressing any fear that anybody would normally have
and trying to have himself centered. 
