McVeigh deciding on appeal of execution

Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh has asked his lawyers to prepare a bid to have his execution delayed again

Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh has asked his lawyers to prepare a bid to have his execution delayed again. But he will decide tomorrow whether to go ahead with the appeal.

Oklahoma bomber
Timothy McVeigh

McVeigh - who murdered 168 people on April 19th 1995 - has told his lawyers to draw up papers to be submitted to court asking for a stay of execution, US network ABC reported.

McVeigh is scheduled to die on June 11th, after his execution was postponed for 30 days by US Attorney General Mr John Ashcroft when it emerged thousands of pages of evidence had not been disclosed by the FBI to his defence team at his original trial.

Today his lawyer, Mr Rob Nigh, said the course of the case "would change in the near future", based on the evidence that had emerged.

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"I can tell you without going into the specifics that there are contained within the documents witness statements of witnesses that we were interested in prior to the time of trial," Mr Nigh told broadcaster CBS's 60 Minutesprogramme.

"And lines of investigation that we were pursuing prior to trial that were not turned over to me until now."

Mr Nigh did not reveal the new evidence, but there is speculation it refers to a third man involved in the conspiracy to bomb the Alfred P Murrah federal building.

The man, dubbed "John Doe Two" at the start of the inquiry, was said to be non-existent by the FBI, but McVeigh's co-conspirator, Terry Nicholls, is appealing his life sentence for murder on the grounds he was part of a wider conspiracy.

McVeigh's latest move comes after four FBI agents involved in the case said they believed there had been a serious mishandling of the biggest criminal investigation in US history.

One of the investigation team, Mr Rick Odeja, told 60 Minuteshe suspected evidence he had taken during the inquiry had not been passed on to prosecutors or defence by the FBI.

McVeigh had waived all his rights to appeal after his original trial, saying he did not want to live.

PA