Justice alerted to false lab testimony in McVeigh case

"Ten days before Timothy McVeigh was executed, lawyers for FBI lab employees sent an urgent letter to the attention of Attorney General John Ashcroft alleging that a key prosecution witness in the Oklahoma City bombing trial might have given false testimony about forensic evidence. The allegations involving Stephen Burmeister, now the FBI lab's chief of scientific analysis, were never turned over to McVeigh, though they surfaced as a judge was weighing whether to delay his execution because the government withheld evidence. 'Material evidence presented by the government in the OKBOMB prosecution through the testimony of Mr. Burmeister appears to be false, misleading and potentially fabricated,' said the June 1, 2001, letter to Ashcroft obtained by The Associated Press. The letter cited Burmeister's testimony in a civil case as evidence contradicting his earlier McVeigh testimony. It was sent to Ashcroft's general fax number and by courier with the notation 'URGENT MATTER FOR THE IMMEDIATE ATTENTION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.' Justice officials said Wednesday the letter was routed to Ashcroft's clerical office in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, where it sat for nearly two months and then was forwarded to the FBI — well after McVeigh was executed. Neither Ashcroft nor other top officials in the Justice Department who handled the McVeigh case saw the letter, spokeswoman Barbara Comstock said. It was never reviewed to determine if it should be handed over to McVeigh's lawyers, officials said."

All the more reason to be against the death penalty. The McVeigh case continues to not pass the smell test, years after his execution.