Timothy McVeigh was the gent who was
convicted of
bombing the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City, OK on
April 19, 1995. This caused 168
deaths, including a bunch of little kids in a
day care center, and destroyed the building. McVeigh was caught rather quickly.
He was reportedly upset with the government about the Waco, Texas deaths of the Branch Davidians and the killing of the wife and kid of Randy Weaver by government agents. Timothy chose the Murrah building because it housed several government offices.
Here's a timeline of McVeigh's court trials and tribulations:
- August 10, 1995: McVeigh was indicted on 11 counts, including eight counts of murder.
- June 2, 1997: McVeigh was convicted on all 11 counts.
- June 13, 1997: The jury in the trial sentenced McVeigh to the death penalty.
- August 14, 1997: Judge Matsch upholds the sentence of death. McVeigh is placed on death row.
- September 8, 1998: The 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals upholds the death sentence. Death sentences are automatically appealed to the circuit court.
- March 8, 1999: The US Supreme Court denys the request to hold a hearing on the case.
- March 6, 2000: The second round of appeals are filed in federal court, in part asking for a new trial.
- October 12, 2000: Judge Matsch denies request for a new trial.
- December 7, 2000: McVeigh drops all appeals, requests that an execution be scheduled within 120 days.
- June 11, 2001: McVeigh died by lethal injection at 7:14 a.m. CDT at the Federal Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, the first federal execution since 1963. McVeigh left a handwritten statement quoting Invictus, a 19th century poem by British poet William Ernest Henley. It ends with the lines "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul."