THE man responsible for the biggest mass murder in US history, Timothy McVeigh (29) will be sentenced to death for his part in the Oklahoma bombing, which killed 168 people including 21 children, it was decided in Denver yesterday.
The 12 jurors, seven men and five women, found unanimously after a day and a half of deliberations that McVeigh should be given the death sentence. If one juror had dissented, he would have been given life imprisonment without parole.
The actual sentencing will be made at a later date, Judge Matsch announced after the jury gave its finding.
There were cheers outside the courtroom when the jury's decision was announced. But other relatives of survivors had said that they opposed the death penalty for McVeigh.
Immediately after the jury finding, the judge ordered that McVeigh should be removed from the courtroom while his divorced parents and sister looked on. McVeigh showed no emotion and mouthed the words to them "it'll be all right" and gave a "V" sign.
McVeigh will be executed by lethal injection, but it could be years until the sentence is carried out while various appeals are heard. The defence has already announced that it will appeal against the verdict.
Later this year, Mr Terry Nichols, an army comrade of McVeigh, will also be tried. He is accused of being an accomplice in the planning of the bombing.
The same jury had found McVeigh guilty a week ago on 11 charges of murder of federal employees at the Murrah Building in Oklahoma on April 19th, 1995. But Oklahoma state is now seeking to have McVeigh tried for the other deaths.
McVeigh's parents made an emotional plea for their son's life to the jurors but their testimony was overshadowed by the harrowing accounts of survivors of the bombing and relatives of the victims. The jurors saw pictures of the mangled bodies of toddlers who were caught in the blast while they were playing in the building's creche.
The prosecution urged the jurors to impose the death penalty and "not let terrorism triumph".
The blast from the 4000 lb truck bomb shattered the Alfred Murrah, building and injured over 500 people in addition to the 168 deaths. McVeigh, according to the prosecution, built the bomb, drove the truck to the site and set it to explode.