Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: OKLAHOMA CITY, March 17 (UPI) _ Convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh is mocking plans to try him in Oklahoma on state charges in the 1995 attack that killed 168 people. McVeigh says in a letter to KOCO-TV at Oklahoma City that District Attorney Bob Macy is seeking ``the glory of a televised state show-trial before he retires.'' The letter dated Feb. 25 was made public Monday. McVeigh calls Macy, who often wears bow ties, a ``Bow-tie Bozo'' and says a state trial is pointless because he will either be executed or retried in federal court if his appeals are successful. Macy's only response today was, ``You can judge the caliber of a man better by his enemies than his friends. I would prefer to have McVeigh as an enemy rather than a friend.'' Macy says he is awaiting the sentencing of McVeigh's accomplice, Terry Nichols, before initiating the state prosecution. He says federal prosecutors won't turn over their files until the Nichols case is complete. In a related development, a federal judge says that Michael Fortier will be sentenced in Oklahoma City for keeping quiet about the plot to bomb the Murrah Federal building and lying to FBI agents. U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Van Bebber of Kansas City, Kan., refused to move the sentencing for Fortier. He called a defense motion to move the proceeding out of Oklahoma City ``ludicrous.'' Fortier pleaded guilty to four felony charges, but his sentencing was delayed so he could testify against McVeigh and Nichols during their trials in Denver. Fortier was charged for failing to warn authorities about plans for the bombing, lying to FBI agents after the attack, and helping McVeigh plan and move some stolen guns from Kansas to Arizona. The maximum punishment on the felony counts is 23 years, but Fortier could get much less, because of his role as a government witness. Van Bebber has not set a date for the sentencing. -- May the leprechauns be near you to spread luck along your way. And may all the Irish angels smile upon you this St. Patrick's Day. Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
