The Mcveigh Trial: The Defense, The Prosecution, The Militia Movement

American Jewish Committee
Thursday, 20 March 1997

On March 31, in Denver, Colorado, Timothy McVeigh will stand trial in federal court for the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which left 168 dead. A new American Jewish Committee publication examines what to expect from the trial, and its potential impact on the militia movement.

"The McVeigh Trial" was written by Kenneth S. Stern, AJC's expert on anti-Semitism and extremism and author of A Force Upon the Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate (Simon & Schuster, 1996). Mr. Stern, an attorney, also wrote AJC's report "Militias: A Growing Danger," released ten days before the Oklahoma City bombing, and in which he warned about the possibility of an attack on a U.S. government target on April 19, 1995, the second anniversary of Waco.

In this timely publication Mr. Stern writes that the McVeigh trial "will be unique in American legal history. Imagine the trial of Lee Harvey Oswald, fast-forward it to the age of the Internet and armed paramilitary cells, add a team of skillful lawyers doing the smoke-and-mirror work of an Oliver Stone, and you will have an idea of the potential impact of the Oklahoma City bombing trial."

Among the trial topics addressed are:

1) The potential that outside groups will try to impact the jury with information about "jury nullification;"

2) The difficult choices the prosecution will have to make demonstrating McVeigh's white supremacist ideology;

3) The impact of the FBI's crime lab problems;

4) Likely defense strategies.

Mr. Stern also explores the impact of the various conspiracy theories that have been common fare in the militia movement, and which the defense will likely exploit in an attempt to confuse the jury. He further traces many of the people mentioned in these rumors to Elohim City, a Christian Identity compound he calls "The Holiday Inn of hate."

Finally, Mr. Stern addresses the impact of the trial on the militia movement. He notes that militia groups believe that as "the government itself bombed the Murrah Building in order to turn loyal Americans against the militia movement, then what is the McVeigh trial? It's the Stalinist show trial for the same purpose."

Mr. Stern concludes:

"It is likely that as the McVeigh trial unfolds, the paranoia of militia groups again will be heightened. Some, in the short run, may decide that the 'heat is on' and that it is better to curtail activities. But others, having their paranoia stirred, will become more agitated and lay plans for what they believe will be an inevitable war against the government. Their edginess should make Americans anxious, especially against the backdrop of Congress's astonishing failure to hold full-scale hearings into the militia movement despite the Oklahoma City bombing itself and the arrest every few weeks of another militia group with plans for, and the material of, terrorism. During the last two years there have been three cases involving far-right and militia members possessing biological or chemical weapons. It is only a matter of time before someone detonates one of these 'poor man's nuclear bombs.' It is certainly possible that a group bent on such a horrendous act might be inspired by the trials of the accused Oklahoma City bombers, for whether McVeigh and Nichols are convicted and sentenced to death, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, or acquitted, the militia cells will find further 'proof' that the New World Order is out to 'get them,' and that the time to escalate their war against America is now."

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