OVERVIEW McVEIGH PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS

PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS OF PETITIONER-DEFENDANT,
TIMOTHY JAMES McVEIGH AND BRIEF IN SUPPORT
MARCH 25, 1997

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

                         FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT 

TIMOTHY JAMES McVEIGH, 

Petitioner-Defendant, 

v. 

HONORABLE RICHARD P. MATSCH, 

Respondent. 

                                         Case No. 96 (Case No. 96-CR-68-M below)

 PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS OF PETITIONER-DEFENDANT, TIMOTHY
                  JAMES McVEIGH AND BRIEF IN SUPPORT 


COMES NOW the Petitioner, Timothy James McVeigh, by and through the
undersigned counsel, and moves this Court to: 

1. Assume jurisdiction in this matter and issue a Writ of Mandamus to the
respondent trial judge directing the respondent to enter the appropriate
orders specifically requested herein; and 

2. Issue a stay of the proceedings below pending resolution of this Petition
in this Court or, in the alternative, allow jury selection to proceed on
schedule, March 31, 1997, but stay the taking of evidence in the court below
pending this Court's resolution of the Petition. 

                                OVERVIEW 

The McVeigh defense, based upon the material provided to it, suggests the
following hypothesis: A foreign power, probably Iraq, but not excluding the
possibility of another foreign state, planned a terrorist attack(s) in the
United States and that one of those targets was the Alfred P. Murrah
Building in Oklahoma City. The Murrah Building was chosen either because of
lack of security (i.e. it was a "soft target"), or because of available
resources such as Iraqi POW's who had been admitted into the United States
were located in Oklahoma City, or possibly because the location of the
building was important to American neo-Nazis such as those individuals who
supported Richard Snell who was executed in Arkansas on April 19, 1995. 

The plan was arranged for a Middle Eastern bombing engineer to engineer the
bomb in such a way that it could be carefully transported and successfully
detonated. There is no reported incident of neo-Nazis or extreme right-wing
militants in this country exploding any bomb of any significant size let
alone one to bring down a nine (9) story federal building and kill 168
persons. In fact, not even members of the left-wing militant groups such as
the Weatherman were ever able to accomplish anything of this magnitude. 

This terrorist attack was "contracted out" to persons whose organization and
ideology was friendly to policies of the foreign power and included dislike
and hatred of the United States government itself, and possibly included was
a desire for revenge against the United States, with possible anti-black and
anti-semitic overtones. Because Iraq had tried a similar approach in 1990,
but had been thwarted by Syrian intelligence information given to the United
States, this time the information was passed through an Iraqi intelligence
base in the Philippines. 

Operating out of the Philippines as a base, the state-sponspored [sic]
terrorists, with the Murrah Building already chosen as the target, enlisted
the support and assistance of members of the Radical American Right. The
defense believes the evidence suggests that American neo-Nazis were chosen
to carry out the bombing of the Murrah Building because of a shared
ideological bent of hatred against the American government. It is possible
that those who carried out the bombing were unaware of the true sponsor. 

The evidence collected by the defense suggests that the desired ideology was
found by the state-sponsored terrorists in Elohim City, Oklahoma, a small
compound near Muldrow, Oklahoma, consisting of between 25 and 30 families
and described as a terrorist organization which preaches white supremacy,
polygamy and overthrow of the government. Elohim City was a haven for former
members of The Covenant, The Sword and the Arm of the Lord ("CSA"), another
extremist organization that had been raided by the federal government on
April 19, 1995, exactly ten years to the day prior to the Oklahoma City
bombing. One member of CSA turned on the organization and testified in court
at the trial of Richard Snell and others who were charged in Arkansas with
sedition in that they conspired to destroy the Alfred P. Murrah Building in
Oklahoma City with a rocket launcher in the early 1980's. Snell was convicted 
on unrelated capital charges and sentenced to death in Arkansas. He was 
executed the day of the Oklahoma City bombing--April 19, 1995--and is 
buried at Elohim City. It is from this group of people that the defense 
believes that the evidence suggests foreign, state-sponsored terrorists 
groomed the most radical persons associated with Elohim City and extracted 
monumental revenge against the federal government by destroying the 
Murrah Building on the day of Richard Snell's execution and the anniversary 
date of federal raid. 

But the defense hypothesis also entails evidence, very strong evidence, that
the federal government, through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms,
had an informant in Elohim City, an informant who warned federal law
enforcement prior to April 19, 1995, that former residents, including the
former chief of security, of Elohim City were planning to "target for
destruction" federal buildings in Oklahoma, including the Alfred P. Murrah
Building. The defense believes this scenario is true, that is is [sic]
eerily similar to the World Trade Center bombing where the FBI had an
informant infiltrate the terrorist group but failed to stop that criminal
act, and that, absent judicial intervention, information concerning these
matters in the possession of the federal
government will be forever buried. 

The defense for Mr. McVeigh is not engaged in a fishing expedition. As the
information set forth in this Petition demonstrates, the McVeigh defense,
using resources provided to it by the district court, has conducted a
wide-ranging and increasingly narrow focused investigation. But without
subpoena power, without the right to take depositions, and without access to
national intelligence information, the McVeigh defense can go no further.
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PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS OF PETITIONER-DEFENDANT,
TIMOTHY JAMES McVEIGH AND BRIEF IN SUPPORT
MARCH 25, 1997