JUDGES deny request to reconsider sentence appeal

<br>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by Michael Fortier on Tuesday to reduce the 12-year prison sentence he received for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Wednesday, June 13th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by Michael Fortier on Tuesday to reduce the 12-year prison sentence he received for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Judges voted 4-2 to deny Fortier's request for the full court to reconsider a 2-1 decision that upheld the prison term. That decision last April was by a panel of the court.

Fortier then asked all eight full-time judges of the six-state court to accept his appeal. The court's two Oklahoma judges excused themselves.

The Kingman, Arizona, resident was an Army friend of Timothy McVeigh, who was executed Monday for the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that resulted in 168 deaths.

Fortier pleaded guilty four months later in 1995 to failing to warn federal or state authorities of the plot, about which McVeigh had told him previously.

Fortier also pleaded guilty to helping McVeigh transport and sell stolen firearms and to lying to FBI agents about the bombing.