(5 of 5)
That aside, Jones still complains that neither of his chief targets, Strassmeir and Mahon, has been interviewed by the FBI. (Mahon says his lawyer has talked to the FBI, and Strassmeir has volunteered a 13-page statement to German police.) "My point," Jones says emphatically, "is that the investigation is incomplete."
One of the prosecutors' biggest challenges is to sit in silence while Jones sounds off--federal rules oblige them to avoid pretrial publicity--but this argument really brings out their exasperation. They want to know why, if McVeigh is the fall guy in a conspiracy, he hasn't told his own lawyer who the masterminds are. Why should Jones have to cast about for theories when McVeigh knows very well whom he talked to and when?
But the job of a good defense lawyer is to open questions, not close them. And in the jury deliberation room, unresolved questions have a way of growing into "reasonable doubt." Federal investigators know that, so they say they are still working leads. Jones wants them to know one more thing. He's still working them too.
--Reported by Patrick E. Cole/Oklahoma City, James L. Graff/ Elohim City and Elaine Shannon/Washington