A Meticulous End Planned for McVeigh Crime: The federal government has every detail covered--including thwarting a rescue attempt.
By RICHARD A. SERRANO, Times Staff Writer
Timothy J. McVeigh is to be executed in this chair in Terre Haute, Ind.
WASHINGTON--Federal prison officials have planned next month's execution of Timothy J. McVeigh, their first in nearly four decades, with minute-by-minute precision, down to the time he is served his last meal, how long his final statement can be and the moment his body is surrendered to a county coroner.
So meticulous are the details that officials already know the last words McVeigh will hear: the voice of the warden proclaiming, "We are ready."
In the next moment, a fatal mixture will be injected into the man who bombed the Oklahoma City federal building six years ago, killing 168 people, including 19 children, and becoming America's most notorious mass murderer.
The 54-page "Execution Protocol," prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and obtained by The Times, is stamped "Sensitive--Limited official use only." It represents eight years of intensive planning and will be first tested with McVeigh's execution on May 16.
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The next federal execution will be a month later.