Burial Without Honors

With convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in mind, the House passed a measure Monday to deny a funeral with military honors to veterans who commit serious crimes. In a 416-0 vote, the House approved an amendment by Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., to deny military funeral benefits to anyone convicted of a state or federal crime in which death is a possible punishment or who has been sentenced to prison without parole. The Senate last week passed a similar measure, prompted by another high-profile case: the 1981 slaying of a black Mobile, Ala., teenager by Ku Klux Klan members. Henry Francis Hays, an Army veteran executed earlier this month in connection with the murder, was buried in a Mobile cemetery with a military honor guard, a 12-gun salute and a flag-draped coffin.