Mcveigh’s Lawyer Says Paper Stole Files Defense Also Says ‘Confession’ Was A Fake Used To Fool Witness
Timothy McVeigh’s lawyer demanded an investigation Monday of The Dallas Morning News, accusing the newspaper of stealing hundreds of files from his computer, including a purported confession from the Oklahoma City bombing defendant.
Stephen Jones, while denying that the statement was in fact a confession, said: “There is no justification whatever for this criminal act.”
Morning News lawyer Paul Watler said the newspaper “met the highest ethical standards.”
“We did not break any laws,” he said. “We have no fear of criminal repercussions.”
Later, McVeigh’s defense team issued a statement saying the “confession” was faked to persuade a witness suspected of being involved in the bombing conspiracy to talk to defense investigators.
“The defense believed that this person was willing to talk if the individual believed that he was not suspected by the defense of being a participant in the bombing,” the defense said.
On Friday, Jones had said he thought the purported confession from McVeigh published by the Morning News was a hoax perpetrated by someone trying to “set this newspaper up.”
Monday, he accused the newspaper of breaking into the defense’s computer files to obtain hundreds of documents for McVeigh and co-defendant Terry Nichols, as well as 25,000 FBI files. Jones offered no proof that theft was committed.
In a story the newspaper published online Friday - the deadline for 1,000 potential jurors to respond to a court questionnaire - the newspaper cited what it said was a defense memorandum that said McVeigh admitted to driving the explosives-laden truck that demolished the Oklahoma City federal building in April 1995. The memo said he chose a daytime attack to ensure a “body count.”
“It is not a legitimate defense memorandum,” Jones said. “It is not a confession of Tim McVeigh.”
Jones said he is considering asking for a 90-day delay in the trial as a “cooling-off period.
He also said he would file a complaint with the Texas Supreme Court asking for an investigation into whether the reporter, Pete Slover, who is also a lawyer, should be disbarred.
In 1990, Slover pleaded no contest to trespassing for entering the Ellis County clerk’s office after it closed and spending two hours there alone. He told his editors he entered the building through an unlocked side door to see if a clerk could show him records related to a double homicide.
Before Jones’ news conference, Morning News executives filed a statement in court saying they would not report any more information “from material used as the source of the previous articles.”