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Fbi orders internal review of oklahoma city bombing { February 28 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/28/politics/28OKLA.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/28/politics/28OKLA.html
February 28, 2004
F.B.I. Orders an Internal Review of Oklahoma City Bombing Files
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 — The Federal Bureau of Investigation ordered an internal review on Friday of its files to determine whether documents that might have been related to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing were improperly withheld from investigators or defense lawyers in the case, a government official said.
The move came in response to an Associated Press article this week that raised fresh questions about whether Timothy J. McVeigh, who was executed in 2001 for the bombing, may have had more than one accomplice.
The article said documents never introduced at Mr. McVeigh's trial showed that F.B.I. agents had destroyed evidence and had failed to share other information that raised the possibility that a gang of white supremacist bank robbers may have helped Mr. McVeigh.
The evidence indicated that the robbers, a group called the Aryan Republican Army, possessed explosive blasting caps similar to those Mr. McVeigh stole and a driver's license with the name of an Arkansas gun dealer who may have been robbed as part of the Oklahoma City plot.
While the Oklahoma City bombing has been a source of widespread conspiracy theories, law enforcement officials say they have seen no solid evidence that anyone other than Mr. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols, who will stand trial on state charges in Oklahoma next week, was involved in an attack, which killed more than 160 people.
Mr. Nichols's lawyer asked Thursday that his client's trial be delayed in light of the article, but the judge refused.
The government official said Friday night that the F.B.I. had acted "out of an abundance of caution" to review its records in response to questions raised in The A.P.'s article.
"If there's information out there, that needs to be looked at," the official said. "This will be a document review to ascertain whether there are documents that were relative to the investigation and that should have been reviewed during the investigation or the prosecution."
Once any additional records are identified, the results will probably be reviewed by the Justice Department to determine whether records were improperly withheld from defense lawyers in the case, the official said.
This is the second time the F.B.I. has had to pore over its records in connection with the Oklahoma City bombing. Just five days before Mr. McVeigh was originally scheduled to be executed in 2001, the Justice Department disclosed that the F.B.I. had discovered thousands of pages of interview reports and other material that had not been properly turned over to his lawyer.
Attorney General John Ashcroft delayed Mr. McVeigh's execution nearly a month as a result.
A report in 2002 by the Justice Department inspector general concluded that the the F.B.I.'s failure to disclose the documents was not intentional but was rather a result of human error as well as antiquated technology and flawed procedures at the bureau.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
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