If It Didn't Taint The Jury,
What Would Have???

Fox 'reports' below.

Hard to believe they didn't ask why we don't have a law
against a public defender releasing evidence against his client.

DENVER —
In what could be one of Timothy McVeigh's last appeals, lawyers seeking a new trial for the convicted Oklahoma City bomber were expected to argue that his rights were violated because his trial lawyer leaked inflammatory stories about him to the media.

McVeigh, scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday, has contended former defense attorney Stephen Jones leaked stories to the news media and promoted a questionable theory about foreign terrorists to pique interest in his book.

Jones has denied the allegations.

If McVeigh loses Thursday's bid — his second appeal — he must get permission from U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch or the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to file additional appeals.

McVeigh was convicted of murder, conspiracy and weapons-related charges and sentenced to death in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The blast killed 168 people and injured more than 500 others.

His new appeal also contends some jurors were untruthful in their answers to questions about political affiliation during the selection process, and that the government suppressed evidence involving problems at an FBI lab that handled evidence.

Prosecutors disputed the claims and said McVeigh will have to prove he would not have been convicted if he had another attorney.

"McVeigh sits on death row not because our legal system failed him, but rather because his guilt was proven fairly, beyond any reasonable doubt, and his crime cried out for the ultimate punishment," wrote prosecutor Sean Connelly.

McVeigh lost his first appeal last year when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear arguments that his trial was tainted by jury misconduct and news reports that he confessed to the bombing.

Guns 2000

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