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ATTORNEY GENERAL STATEMENT REGARDING MCVEIGH EXECUTION

WASHINGTON, D.C. Attorney General John Ashcroft today issued the following statement regarding the execution of Timothy McVeigh:

• "I am very pleased that today our judicial system exercised its responsibility in a way that reinforces justice. It is important that we have a system understood to be fair and understood to be complete and understood to be thorough and understood to be accurate. Now, earlier in the McVeigh case, when it was announced that there were additional documents that were found, I felt that it was very important to make sure that there was time so that those documents could be assessed and evaluated and considered.

• "We've never had a doubt about the guilt of Timothy McVeigh. He is responsible for the brutal murder of 168 innocent individuals, including 19 children. But it seemed to me that we needed more than a guilty defendant in the administration of justice here; we needed an innocent system. And so a month ago I deferred the execution of Mr. McVeigh so that it would be clear that we not only had a guilty defendant, but that the system had operated fairly and innocently and effectively.

• "And today, I believe the ruling of the court in Denver, Colorado, makes unmistakably clear that we not only have a guilty defendant, but that the fairness and innocence of the system is sufficient and is complete and that it merits the trust and confidence of the American people.

• "I want to commend -- I want to commend the victims, who have had to endure an additional month here of uncertainty. And I thank them. I went to Oklahoma City to be with the victims. I know the pain and the agony and the distress. I know the wound. I know the absence of loved ones which will forever be absent. But I want to commend them for their patience and their endurance and their understanding.

• "I want to commend the FBI for -- when discovering that there had been documents not delivered in accordance with the agreement, the FBI brought those documents to my attention and allowed me to do the right thing. And we sent an alert worldwide to every FBI office, if there's anything that could be swept from the most remote corner of the office or the most remote component of the filing system, to send it in, and they did well.

• "I want to commend the Justice Department team which has worked on this case from the beginning. The argument today in Denver was an exemplary argument conducted by an attorney of great skill, and the brief provided was a brief which conclusively demonstrated that the materials that were developed and that were submitted in no way provided any evidence of any exculpation or to demonstrate any potential innocence of this defendant.

• "I believe that we have satisfied the responsibility completely and thoroughly that the system operate fairly and innocently in dealing with a defendant who is unquestionably guilty, and the ruling of the court in Denver today is a ruling for justice. It's a justice which cannot be denied, and it is an appropriate ruling, for which I am grateful."

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