Okla. City Grand Jury Says No Conspiracy

by Bill Johnson

"We do not believe the federal government" was in any way involved, the grand jurors said.

As for other conspirators, the grand jury said in its final report, "This was an act that could have been carried out by one individual. We cannot affirmatively state that absolutely no one else was involved in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. However we have not been presented with or uncovered information sufficient to indict any additional conspirators. ...

"We are encouraged that the FBI continues to have an agent assigned full-time to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing and are confident that if any new evidence comes to light, they and other law enforcement agencies will pursue those leads."

While most of the witnesses who appeared before them "described events that they believed to be true and accurate accounts of what they had observed," in a number of cases "their testimony could not be substantiated by any other evidence we could find" and often contradicted other testimony, the report said.

"There was unfortunately another group of witnesses who testified before us on issues that were not relevant or were found to be nothing more than a recitation of the already numerous and varied cover-up and conspiracy theories," the report continued.

Grand jurors also noted the repetition of conspiracy theories in some fringe publications. They said these publications repeated this erroneous information "over and over again without anyone validating its veracity.

"Sadly, these organizations and individuals have glorified those convicted in federal court by vilifying the federal government and increasing the public's distrust of its government by providing half-truths, uncorroborated, and oftentimes outright false information.

"We would like to specifically address each of the falsehoods asserted by these individuals," they said. "Unfortunately, due to the current status of the law in the State of Oklahoma, we cannot specifically mention individual testimony or comment on the motivation or professionalism of certain other individuals. We can and have, however, expressed our appreciation towards those individuals that are worthy of such."

The grand jury was summoned after former state Rep. Charles Key, (R - Oklahoma City), successfully circulated petitions seeking, as he put it, to find "what really happened."

While the grand jury was not able to address Key or his private investigative committee, Oklahoma County District Judge Bill Burkett, who read the grand jury's report in open court, sharply criticized Key and his committee in remarks he made from the bench.

Key said his committee would issue its own report in 30 to 60 days.

"It will be a complete report and won't be absent testimony and facts," Key said. "That's a reference to the grand jury not pursuing all the testimony and facts they could have pursued.'"

Timothy McVeigh, 30, was convicted of being the person who rented a Ryder truck in Kansas and detonated the 4,500-lb. ammonium nitrate bomb it carried outside the federal building. He was sentenced to death. Terry Nichols, 43, was convicted of conspiracy and eight counts of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to life in prison.

Both are appealing their sentences.

Grand jurors also called on the local district attorney to carry through with his plans to bring state murder charges against McVeigh and Nichols.

The grand jury spent 133 working days over 18 months and heard from 117 witnesses. In addition, it studied more than 1,100 exhibits.

The total estimated cost of the grand jury's work was put at $525,434, including costs of the sheriff's department, the courts, police and federal witness payments.

The grand jury did return one sealed indictment that was believed to involve witness tampering.

Several of the conspiracy theorists contend that people who live at Elohim City, a white separatist enclave in northeastern Oklahoma, were involved in the bombing.

"In spite of a possible telephone call from Timothy McVeigh to Elohim City in April, 1995, we have been unable to find such a connection," the grand jury said. "It is our understanding that the FBI has also been unable to find such a link."

Grand jurors also noted that some conspiracy advocates put forth the idea that some foreign country was involved, probably a Middle Eastern country. They said that "based on the evidence available," such a connection "simply did not exist."

"This was an act perpetrated by Americans on Americans," the grand jury said.

The report spent a great deal of time on John Doe II.

Shortly after the bombing, the U.S. Department of Justice circulated composite drawings of two suspects, John Doe I and John Doe II. McVeigh subsequently was identified as John Doe No. 1 and the government eventually determined the second suspect was an innocent Army enlisted man who had been at the Kansas shop where McVeigh rented the Ryder truck that carried the bomb.

While not being able to say positively there was no other co-conspirator, the grand jury said, "We believe that the most likely identity of John Doe II was that of Todd Bunting," the Army man. It noted the description of Bunting matched that on the composite drawing, down to a tattoo.

Other conspiracy advocates contend the bombing was the result of a government sting operation gone wrong.

"Our view is that everything else in this regard is either fabrication or uninformed speculation," the report said.

Based on the evidence of burns and the injuries suffered by the victims, along with other physical evidence, "we believe there was one bomb," the grand jurors said.

Numerous reports arose that McVeigh was seen with another man in the days and weeks before the bombing. The grand jury heard from many of those who said they saw such a person, and said many of the descriptions contradicted each other.

According to the testimony, the grand jury said, this person was 5-foot-3 to 6-foot-3; weighed 140 to 210 pounds; had a slim or stocky build; had a mustache or was clean-shaven; had blonde, brown or black hair worn in a crew cut or shoulder length, and had a light, dark or olive complexion.

Grand jurors also noted that an all-points bulletin was issued for a brown pickup truck supposedly seen speeding from the area. They said their investigation revealed that an employee at the nearby Journal-Record Building "received a call that one of her children had become ill at school. She got in her brown pickup, matching the description given on the APB, and left the Journal Record parking lot at a high rate of speed."

Conspiracy advocates have repeated a story that employees of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in the building had received a message on their beepers not to come to work that morning. The truth is, the grand jury said, there were ATF employees at work in the building that morning.

Another story making the rounds was that U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook, who visited the bomb site the night of April 19, 1995, made the comment that the government had been aware that something was going to happen. Based on the testimony it heard, the grand jury said, there was no evidence. "of prior knowledge by the congressman."

It also went through the timing of a number of telephone calls bandied about by conspiracy advocates and said their investigation showed these conspiracy theories were wrong.

Conspiracy advocates say that proof the government was involved is based on part on explosives supposedly found in the building. The grand jury said its investigation showed these "explosives" were an inert TOW missile used in training and packages of small-arms ammunition wrongly identified by a witness as explosives.

Federal enforcement agencies were housed in the building and there were small arms and ammunition found, the grand jury said. In addition, the report said, one agent had a desk ornament that resembled a bundle of dynamite with a clock.

There were reports at the time that another bomb was removed from the building. The grand jury said, however, its investigation indicated this was the inert TOW missile that was put into the sheriff's bomb squad truck.

Grand jurors also disposed of allegations that officers and rescue units were at the scene before the bomb went off. On the contrary, the grand jurors said, there was no credible evidence of any prior appearances, but some firefighters at nearby fire stations "did not wait for a call but dispatched themselves" when they heard the explosion and saw the billowing smoke.

They also pointed out that a prayer breakfast for law enforcement officers had just broken up a few blocks away; the city police department is only four blocks away; the sheriff's office was five blocks away and there were police on patrol downtown.

"We conclude that these responding units, as well as many other law enforcement officers, medical personnel and other citizens who responded to the building so promptly should be congratulated," the grand jurors said. "There is absolutely no support that this prompt response was evidence of prior knowledge and we do not understand why others have tried to twist this into something evil."

Evidence provided "absolutely no support" to theories that these officers had prior knowledge, but that they rushed to the scene after hearing and feeling the explosion, the grand jury said.

Alex McCauley, the ATF resident agent, told how he and Dave Schickendanz, an agent of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, were in an elevator at the time of the blast and were able to escape onto the third floor.

"There were claims that no one could possibly have been in the elevators in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building at the time of the blast," the grand jurors noted.

"Through the testimony of other witnesses and photographs of the elevators taken minutes after the blast, the Grand Jury believes RAC McCauley and Agent Schickendanz were in elevator three which stopped on the third floor, and were able to get out on their own," the report said.

Several people said they saw the sheriff's bomb truck at the federal building before the bomb went off. The grand jury said it found that the bomb truck had been at the sheriff's office more than an hour earlier while the driver was conducting some official business, and was miles away for a training exercise at the time of the bombing.

Grand jurors also noted the numerous reports of seeing a Ryder truck at a Kansas lake with various vehicles. Only two people told of seeing the truck at the lake before the media reported the government believed that was where the bomb was mixed, the grand jury said. It added that all of the other conflicting reports came afterward.