wfn.org | McVeigh Verdict

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (138
notes).

Note 136 modified by UMNS on June 3, 1997 at 16:30 Eastern (3739 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Linda Bloom                       324(10-21-34-71B){136}
          New York (212) 870-3803                     June 3, 1997

After long wait, McVeigh guilty
verdict pleases Marshall

          by United Methodist News Service

     When the first "guilty" rang through the Denver courtroom
where Timothy McVeigh had been tried for the Oklahoma City
bombing, Anne Marshall went numb.
     She had waited two years to see justice done in the murder of
her husband of nearly 13 years, Raymond Johnson. He was among the
168 people killed when a truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah
federal office building on April 19, 1995.
     But it only took about two minutes for the 11 counts of
conspiracy and murder against McVeigh to be read on June 2, with a
"guilty" following each count.
     "I think Raymond would have been happy with the guilty
verdict," she said.
     Marshall, a Native American employed as an executive with the
United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious
Concerns in New York, had arrived in Denver May 25 to sit in the
courtroom during the closing of McVeigh's defense and final
arguments in the case.
     "Emotionally, I'm just drained," Marshall told United
Methodist News Service in a June 3 telephone interview as she
prepared to fly to Oklahoma City. "In some ways, I've put my whole
life on hold for the last two years. For me, the scars are always
going to be there."
     While she was convinced of McVeigh's guilt, both from the
evidence and from watching him during the trial, she was worried
the jury might have doubts. When the judge kept stressing the
suspect was innocent until proven guilty, "that kind of gave me
some uncertainties [about the verdict]," Marshall told United
Methodist News Service. "You never know about juries because
they're human."
     As the jury deliberated, Marshall stayed at a local Roman
Catholic church "with probably a hundred other people," drawing
comfort from the shared sorrow. "It was really, really good to be
with the other families," she said. "We were all in this
together."
     What she didn't expect was to find her anger at McVeigh
diluted by pity. She said she now feels sad for McVeigh, "that he
was so ideologically misdirected that he felt he could make a
difference in this country by blowing up a building with people in
it. Has our culture and society become so twisted that that's
okay?"
     Even though McVeigh has shown little emotion or remorse,
"maybe I'm a step closer to being able to forgive him," she added.
     While Marshall agrees that massive impact and calculated
nature of the crime warrants the death penalty, she's no longer
convinced the execution of McVeigh is necessary. "Even though he
pays the ultimate price with his life, it isn't going to bring my
husband back. It isn't going to change my life," she explained.
"They've already found him guilty and that's the most important
part."
     Though opposed to any lesser sentence, Marshall said she
would support a sentence of life without parole for McVeigh. "At
least then I know he's not going to be out doing the talk shows,"
she added.
     Marshall herself will not be following the penalty phase of
McVeigh's trial, which was to start June 4, because she is on the
witness list for the penalty phase of a second suspect, Terry L.
Nichols, if he is convicted.
     Although she doesn't expect total closure until all the
trials are over, she said she does believe "I can now plan for
some other parts of my life."
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