Prosecutors don't object to returning some McVeigh evidence to owners

<br>DENVER (AP) _ Federal prosecutors said Tuesday they do not object to evidence from the trial of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh being returned to its legal owners. <br><br>McVeigh, who was executed

Wednesday, July 24th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DENVER (AP) _ Federal prosecutors said Tuesday they do not object to evidence from the trial of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh being returned to its legal owners.

McVeigh, who was executed on June 11, 2001, had asked in his will that his lawyer, Robert Nigh Jr., receive all his personal property, including documents, evidence and legal paperwork.

Nigh asked a judge to release the evidence that was offered only in McVeigh's trial. He did not ask for evidence used in both the trials of McVeigh and his co-conspirator, Terry Nichols.

Prosecutors filed papers in U.S. District Court Tuesday saying they did not object to Nigh's request, provided that evidence offered by prosecutors be returned to the government, and that minor corrections be made in Nigh's list of evidence to be released.

It was unclear how Nigh would distribute the material. He did not return a phone call to his Tulsa, Okla., office after business hours.

McVeigh, 33, was convicted on federal charges of murder and conspiracy for the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. The blast killed 168 people.

Nichols was convicted on federal charges of involuntary manslaughter and given a life sentence without the possibility of parole. He is awaiting trial in Oklahoma on state murder charges that could bring the death penalty.

Both men were tried in Denver on the federal charges because of concerns an impartial jury could not be found in Oklahoma.