US federal prosecutors have asked a court not to delay the scheduled June 11th execution of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
The prosecutors claimed "there is no case where the death sentence is more appropriate."
McVeigh, the Gulf War veteran who now admits planting the bomb that killed 168 people and injured 500 others at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in 1995, is seeking a delay in his execution on the grounds that the US government withheld 4,000 pages of evidence that could have been useful to his defence.
"Rather than answer for his own proven and admitted murderous conduct, McVeigh would like to put the Federal government on trial," US Attorney Sean Connelly said in his brief filed with the federal court in Denver in answer to a defence request for a delay.
A hearing is set for tomorrow in the courtroom of Federal Judge Richard Matsch, who presided over McVeigh's 1997 trial.
"He does not, and could not, suggest that the death penalty is unwarranted for his exceptionally aggravated crimes," Mr Connelly said in the 25-page brief. He added, "McVeigh is undeniably guilty and there is no case in which the death sentence could be more appropriate than this one."
The US government dismissed the significance of the newly-released documents. "There is nothing in the new documents ... linking anyone else to the bombing," the brief said.
McVeigh dropped all appeals in his case last December so that he could die quickly. While he never admitted guilt at his trial or in any papers filed with the court, he admitted it in a series of prison interviews with journalists.