Lawyers from Bombing Cases Struggle to Find Peace 15 Years Later

By Emily Wood, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Fifteen years after the Murrah Bombing some of the people most deeply involved in the trials are still trying to find peace.

Former United States District Attorney Pat Ryan was part of the team that prosecuted Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols for the April 19, 995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City.

He has never walked through the museum and has spent little time at the Memorial.

Ryan said it's too difficult to relive the stories of the 168 families he spent so many months trying to help.

"It's really hard for me," Ryan said. "It's hard for me to talk about the experience."

Ryan said he's proud of the job the prosecution did in the case.

"I am satisfied with the facts and that the task force did everything imaginable to bring those two to justice," he said.

Ryan said McVeigh's execution provided some sense of finality for the victim's families.

"That we were able to get McVeigh executed in two years - that is justice," Ryan said.

But for the man who defended McVeigh the execution represented something else.

"I didn't think this execution proved justice had been served," Stephen Jones said. "What it proved to me was the government had chosen who it wanted to prosecute and execute."

Jones said he did believe McVeigh was guilty, but is convinced there were others involved.

Jones is unsettled about the way the government handled the case and said he is one of the many who may never find full closure.

Even for people like Pat Ryan who do say justice was served, true closure may be elusive.

"It's terrible," he said. "I wish it wasn't like this."