McVeigh Is Guilty

DENVER: Timothy McVeigh watched quietly as his jury walked into the courtroom. Jurors could not look him in the eye as he sat still with his hands clasped in front of him while the verdict was read: Guilty on all 11 counts in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City. Guilty of using a weapon of mass destruction to kill people and destroy federal property. Guilty of using a weapon of mass destruction that caused death and injury. Guilty of one count of malicious destruction of federal property. Guilty of eight counts of murdering federal law enforcement officers. The jury had deliberated for nearly 24 hours over three days. After their decision was read, McVeigh stood up and shook hands with his attorney, Stephen Jones. He checked his watch, and then three federal marshals escorted the man convicted of the worst terrorist act ever on U.S. soil out of the building. Some 700 miles from the courtroom, where survivors and families watched the verdict on a closed-circuit video transmission at the Federal Aviation Building in Oklahoma City, cheers erupted as the verdict was announced. "It was a great relief, an emotional breakthrough," one said. But though the verdict brings closure, it's cold comfort to many who lost family members in the blast. "You heard most all of them clap. I couldn't do that because McVeigh has put us through so much and now," said Bud Welch, whose 23-year-old daughter Julie died in the bombing. "I really can't put it in words my emotions. I thought it'd all be joy, but it isn't. A very dull victory. The bottom line is my little girl isn't coming back and I have the rest of my life to deal with that."