-Caveat Lector- www.okcbombing.org/html/gj_rsp.htm IN RESPONSE TO THE OK COUNTY GRAND JURY FINAL REPORT Oklahoma Bombing Investigation Committee By Cate McCauley, Executive Director January 1, 1999 On December 30, 1998, after being in session for 18 months, the OK County Grand Jury issued their final report. The jurors were charged by the citizens of Oklahoma to investigate who planned and carried out the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building on April 19, 1995. The grand jurors interviewed 117 witnesses, the last of whom was FBI agent Jon Hersley. The report did not include any indictments against Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, the Fortiers or any other co-conspirators. One indictment was handed down regarding a charge of jury tampering. REVIEWING THE EVIDENCE The grand jurors worked for 133 days. And while everyone deeply appreciates their sacrifices and how this impacted their lives, it's still a fraction of the time this committee and others involved in the bombing case have spent researching the evidence. Reviewing this massive amount of information available takes months, if not years, to sort through. Throughout my time here, I have discovered a fundamental difference between what the OKBIC is trying to accomplish and what the grand jury had to consider. There is a huge gap between what makes common sense and what is considered legally relevant: Similar to the difference between a reporter covering a story and a lawyer working on the case. Some have accused us of trying to make everyone a part of some evil conspiracy plot. That is not true. We have refuted many of the so-called conspiracy theories and tried to be objective and not to jump to any conclusions. OVERVIEW: The grand jury report includes a complete rundown of the federal government's case against Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh, almost word for word. I won't get into every detail at this time, but I do want to point a few items, which were proven not to be true according trial testimony. 1) The key found in a nearby alleyway, which reportedly belonged to the Ryder truck, had none of McVeigh's fingerprints on it and did not turn the truck's lock. 2) The FBI reported that ammonium nitrate residue was found on McVeigh's shirt, according to the grand jury overview. This is not true. According to testimony, no ANFO was found on McVeigh's shirt, hair, fingernail scrapings, on his boots or his car. 3) They concluded that Terry Nichols robbed Roger Moore to finance the bombing. Even the federal jurors did not believe this to be true. It's all in the transcripts. By Moore's own testimony, the robber did not fit Nichols' description, he did not help the robber load weapons, and was never untied by the suspect. Let's not forget this supposed robbery took place after the alleged bomb components were purchased. 4) The grand jurors made no mention of the perjured testimony of Karen Anderson, Moore's girlfriend. She wrote Moore's gun list, which included serial numbers, back in January of 1993. However, this list contained a gun purchased by Terry Nichols in November of 1993. Clearly Ms. Anderson is either clairvoyant or someone helped her create this gun list after Nichols' property had been seized. 5) Jurors said a drill bit taken from Terry Nichols' home matched the markings on a lock found at the scene of a quarry robbery. In fact, the judge did not allow any such testimony, only an opinion that it might be ``consistent with" that drill bit. There was no match. 6) The report relied heavily (almost exclusively) on the testimony of Michael and Lori Fortier despite the fact that almost everyone, including the judge and juries, had real problems with their reliability and motivations. They are admitted liars and drug users, but somehow their testimony was believed when other decent people are presumed to be lying. It is worth noting the Fortier's were never subjected to any lie detector examinations. 7) A phone call these jurors claim was made to Nichols from McVeigh on 4/15/95 did not show any connection, a duration of 0:00 seconds. They said this call somehow proves Nichols was lying when he told the FBI he had had no contact with Timothy McVeigh for one or two months before Easter Sunday. A. JOHN DOE II One of the most confusing aspects of this case is the eyewitnesses and the John Doe sightings. I completely understand their frustration over this part of the case. It's a mess. The problems with the Elliott Body shop and the identity of ``Bob Kling" will be looked at closely in our upcoming report. But even Vicki Beemer testified someone was with Kling. There is a real problem trying to make all these descriptions fit the mysterious ``John Doe #2." It may miss an important point. What if there was more than one John Doe? The jurors reported that a woman taking her child to the doctor was driving the brown pick-up truck that became the subject of the original all-points-bulletin. There is a very reliable witness who saw middle-eastern men in a similar truck. She explained this on KFOR shortly after the bombing. This person never testified at the grand jury. The grand jurors left open the possibility of a John Doe. That's good. B. CONSPRIACY/PRIOR KNOWLEDGE Much has been said about this and going over each point is not necessary at this time. What we have always said is there was a ``state of heightened alert." That is well-documented. 475 victims families, including a bombing victims spokesperson who is constantly criticizing us, think they have a case and want to file a civil suit. Trying to insinuate this committee thought everyone knew the building was going to blow up and they allowed their fellow Oklahomans to die. This is NOT true. Despite years of trying to correct this misconception, local spokespeople keep misquoting Charles Key as one who believes this. We understand many bomb threats come into law enforcement all the time: Some threats are taken more seriously than others. We just want to know what specific warnings may relate to what happened in Oklahoma City. That's not an unfair question. C. ELOHIM CITY On this subject, I tend to agree with the grand jurors with one exception: Aside from the phone call on 4/5/95, Timothy McVeigh did receive a traffic ticket on 10/12/93 at 2:40 AM near Elohim City on highway 59. There are still some concerns over why Andres Strassmeir was not detained earlier� or at all for that matter. There are some compelling reasons to interrogate this person about his knowledge and/or his motives for living at Elohim City. Was Carol Howe's warnings part of that overall ``state of heightened alert"? Why did the government charge her of crimes (which she was acquitted of) prior to the McVeigh trial for the very activities the ATF had hired her to do? The way the government handled this situation and their subsequent behavior casts a long shadow. Concerns remain over whether there any connections to the so-called mid-west bank robbers, who also frequented Elohim City prior to the bombing. Although I do not believe there is a direction connection, when you hear one of the Kehoe brothers say in open court that his brother was aware a bombing would occur, it makes you wonder. We have nothing about that since his proclamation. Looking into that aspect of this case, one can see through a porthole into a world of crime motivated by distrust for the government, which created a hotbed of illegal activities. The Elohim City situation is a perfect illustration of what was happening throughout the country following the siege on Waco: extreme dissatisfaction and distrust of the government; as well as FBI and ATF agents or provocateurs who seemed to encourage people to act against their government. But all of this is not proven enough to take into the legal realm. We accept that for now. D. STING Again, I would just point to that ``state of heighten alert." Indeed, all the evidence they examined may be pure speculation and not provable to legal standards the grand jurors required. E. TELEPHONE CALLS I want to thank the jurors on this category. Our committee did not have the authority or ability to track phone calls. The jurors had that power. They cleared up some serious confusion by reviewing these records. One point I would like to clarify is the call to Walter Reed Army Hospital mentioned in the grand jury report. First, we never went public with this information even though we knew about it since November of 1997. Because the caller mentioned the Governor of Oklahoma's office, we do not believe this proves the Governor knew. Therefore, this news was not released because we knew it would be taken that way. We are not sure from the reading the report if telephone records were ever double-checked. However, the grand jury confirms this call did take place. Our main concern remains who on Earth would telephone this facility prior to the bombing and inquire about ``triage for blast overpressure victims." G. SOME HAVE CLAIMED THAT LAW ENFORCEMENT AND RESCUE WORKEERS ARRIVED TOO SOON AFTER THE BOMBING The grand jurors provide a reasonable and thorough explanation of the local law enforcement response. They responded in a way that should make all Americans proud. Our question has always been over the reported federal presence so quickly after the blast, not the local police, fire, rescue workers, medical personnel or citizens. No one on this committee has ever tried to ``twist this into something evil." As we have stated repeatedly, there are a large number of law enforcement officers who support what this committee has tried to do. H. ELEVATORS Frankly, I don't care who was in the building, or where they were. However, considering the elevator maintenance supervisor and members of the General Services Administration say it absolutely could not have happened as described and they have photos that prove that fact. We are all left wondering why the jurors chose to believe agent Schickendanz. Even the lead federal prosecutor in the McVeigh's trial, Joe Hartzler, admitted to one bombing victim that the government would not continue to claim the agents were in the elevator. Well, so be it. I. UNIDENTIFIED FINGERPRINTS This conclusion, if we can call it that, is woefully short of a reasonable explanation. Indeed it is a perfect example of FBI double-speak. What do the jurors mean by saying the prints will be matched ``if future evidence warrants it"? Does cold-blooded murder warrant finding everyone? The FBI's excuse of trying to match fingerprints to ``known" suspects is unacceptable. Isn't it a basic principal to use this technology to find the suspects you don't know? Why do we have a data bank of 35 million fingerprints if we're not going to use it to find all those involved? J. THE MORE THAN ONE BOMB THEORY We will explore the science in our up-coming report. It's a lengthy analysis of the government's own reports, no hearsay will be necessary. I only wish the jurors had heard from the expert with 30 years of NASA experience. This is a highly complicated, scientific issue that really deserves reasonable public debate. K. THE SHERIFF'S BOMB TRUCK We have no comments at this time. L. WAS MORE THAN ONE RYDER TRUCK USED IN THE BOMBING OF THE ALFRED P. MURRAH BUILDING This category is a real mystery. The Nichols' jurors said they believed more than one truck was used. I have studied the testimony and believe some of these sightings were real, but certainly not all. Why did people see a Ryder truck at the Dreamland before the bomb truck was rented? There is no mention of this their report. As for the Geary Lake sightings, many have doubts this bomb was even built at the lake. But if it was, and the FBI wanted to know about all the sightings and asked people to come forward, and they did after news accounts, why discount those witnesses for doing their civic duty? That's not fair. If hearing of news reports is their criteria for discounting witnesses, then they would have to discount the testimony of those involved in the ammonium nitrate purchases, the nitro-menthane purchase in Texas, the quarry robbery, as well as bombing victims Germaine Johnson and Daina Bradley. IN CONCLUSION: Judging from what I have read and heard regarding the grand jury's report, I can tell you with the absolute certainty that the grand jurors did not read the trial transcripts. Indeed, I remember a local television news report months ago saying members of the District Attorney's office were reviewing the testimony. The DA's office is NOT the grand jury nor are they objective bystanders. Therein lies the fundamental problem many have with the grand jury report: They never studied the case fully. The mistakes contained in the grand jury report prove that to be true. For if they had, other items of interest would have stood out and hopefully piqued their interest. They would also probably still be in session because it would take a very long time to review and analyze all that information. After a lengthy court battle to gain access to the federal case work and federal agents, only one agent was ever called to testify. It is doubtful, given the six week the grand jurors had these ``massive" files, that there was time to review them thoroughly. Are the grand jurors part of some grand conspiracy? No, not at all. It is disgusting to suggest anyone with serious questions should be automatically labeled as having such beliefs. I believe this is simply a case of good people trusting and relying on their legal advisors. They most likely told them the government's case had no flaws and there was no need to investigate it any further since the prosecutors had already done that in the federal trials. It's not a farfetched assumption to assume the jurors depended on that advice. The grand jury's legal advisors were biased. I witnessed that myself while I was before the grand jury. That's not too difficult to comprehend either, for it's OK District Attorney Bob Macy, the legal advisors' employer, who plans to try both defendants in Oklahoma. And if anyone can convince me that any prosecutor can keep their opinions to themselves for 18 months, I'll eat my shoes without salt or pepper. Just for the record: I have spent about 500+ days, oftentimes 12-18 hours a day, looking into this case, studying the transcripts and documents, and still have only scratched the surface. Charles Key has been deluged with information (both reliable and unreliable) over the three and half years he has struggled with trying to uncover the truth. We have nothing but the greatest sympathy for anyone trying to make heads or tails out of this case. The layers one has to dig through go very deep indeed. But as I said before, there are major differences between reporting, investigating, finding the legal relevance necessary to take something into court and the whole truth. I ask everyone to please stay tuned, for in 30-60 days we plan to release our own report. I would not dare claim our report will be the final word on the OK bombing case, but we are working very hard on making this case clearer to for everyone to. [ DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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