USA: OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBER TIMOTHY McVEIGH SENTENCED TO DEATH UPDATE

(14 Jun 1997) English/Nat
Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death on Friday for the Oklahoma City bombing, in which 168 people died.
The jury deliberated for more than 11 hours over two days before deciding unanimously that the 29-year-old should die by injection for the worst act of terrorism in U-S history.
But it is unknown when - or even if - the decorated Gulf War veteran will be executed.
For more than two years, family and friends of Oklahoma City bombing victims awaited the conviction and sentencing of Timothy McVeigh.
But even though he has now been sentenced to death, those who want him to die will have to wait.
McVeigh is only the 13th federal prisoner sent to death row since 1976, and of the 12 other prisoners none have yet been executed.
The appeals process often takes years.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"There's a long string of appeals that he can bring if he is so moved to do so, and they usually are. And he seems to have lawyers who would like to try everything. So that will enable him to delay the death penalty, maybe over ten years."
SUPER CAPTION: Paul Rothstein, Legal Expert, Georgetown University
If McVeigh's lawyers choose to appeal - and there is little doubt they will - the case then goes to the 10th U-S Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
The appeals court will review the court record, including all the evidence in the trial.
It will also review any issues raised by McVeigh's attorneys, including whether the sentence of death was imposed under the influence of passion or prejudice.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I imagine that they will challenge the degree to which the trial judge let in a lot of sympathy testimony on the part of victims and their families during the guilt/innocence phase, and even maybe too much of it in the penalty phase of the trial."
SUPER CAPTION: Paul Rothstein, Legal Expert, Georgetown University
McVeigh's defence attorney Stephen Jones is also likely argue that Judge Matsch unfairly clamped down on his defence, by not allowing him to bring forward his conspiracy theories.
The appeals court could decide that McVeigh deserves a new trial, and then the long, arduous trial process begins once again.
It could also rule that the conviction and the sentence were just.
In that case, McVeigh's lawyers will appeal to the highest court in the land - the U-S Supreme Court.
Critics of the process say the system favours criminals, making it too easy for them to stay alive, even after they have been sentenced to death.
But others argue it was designed like that for a reason.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It is a very serious penalty, it is society taking a life, it is the extreme sanction, so you want to administer it with more care than maybe some of the other punishments that society administers."
SUPER CAPTION: Paul Rothstein, Legal Expert, Georgetown University
Should he appeal, McVeigh will spend his time at the U-S Penitentiary in Indiana - the only maximum security prison with facilities to carry out an execution.
Death row inmates are executed according to the method prescribed by the state where they were sentenced.
The state of Colorado, where McVeigh was sentenced, puts people to death by lethal injection.
But the chances are that Timothy McVeigh will never die from lethal injection.
Of the more than 300 criminals sentenced to die each year in the U-S, only about 35 are ever executed.
In fact, the most frequent cause of death on death row in the U-S is natural causes.
But that may be enough for the majority of Americans.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
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