DENVER: After deliberating for eleven hours, McVeighs jury gathered in the Denver courtroom at 5:30 EDT on Friday and answered a series of questions assessing everything from his personal history to his culpability and intent in the Oklahoma bombing. They had voted on an excruciatingly long list of factors to reach their final choice: Life or death. In the end, the jury, standing one by one, affirmed that they had chosen the ultimate penalty: death by lethal injection. As McVeigh was escorted from the courtroom after the verdict, he turned to his family and appeared to mouth the words its all right. He then made the peace sign. Having been sentenced to death for the murders of eight federal employees, he will next stand trial in Oklahoma for killing 160 other people that day. As his appeals proceed, at least five years are likely to pass before he can be sent to Terre Haute, Indiana, site of the only federal execution chamber. For now, Dr. Paul Heath, leader of the Murrah Building Survivors Association, summed up his reaction to todays verdict: “Justice, justice, justice.”
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