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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Dad, Mom Who Lost Daughters Oppose Killing Mcveigh

Associated Press

A man who lost his daughter in the Oklahoma City blast joined death penalty opponents Wednesday in urging only a life sentence for the convicted bomber, saying “even Timothy McVeigh has a soul.”

“This is a real test of a human being,” said Bud Welch, whose daughter, Julie, was one of the 168 people killed in the April 19, 1995, bombing. “I have examined my conscience. I have examined it time and time again.”

“The thing I would like the people in this country to do is examine their consciences very deeply and try to see the spiritual side of life, the fact that every human being, even Timothy McVeigh, has a soul,” he said.

Welch spoke at a news conference with groups that oppose the ultimate punishment, just a day before a federal jury in Denver was to begin deliberating whether McVeigh should die by injection or be sentenced to life behind bars for the bombing, the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

While it’s unclear what the jury will do, Welch said he is certain what his daughter would have decided.

“As Julie Marie used to say as we drove from Oklahoma City to Milwaukee taking her to college, ‘Dad, the death penalty has no social value at all. All it does is teach our children hate,”’ he said.

In Denver, Marsha Kight, whose daughter, Frankie Merrill, died in the federal building’s day-care center, said she was also opposed to putting McVeigh to death.

“I couldn’t look anybody in the eye and say ‘I’m going to take your life,”’ she said.

But the relatives of five people killed in the bombing issued a statement later in the day backing the death penalty for McVeigh, saying the horror of the crime demands it.

A Harris Poll released Wednesday found 64 percent of Americans want McVeigh to be executed and 32 percent favor life behind bars.