Prosecutor says Michael Fortier has served his debt to society

Thursday, January 19th 2006, 5:22 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A member of the team that prosecuted Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols for the Oklahoma City bombing says he thinks it is appropriate that the star prosecution witness in the case is about to be released from federal custody.

Aitan Goelman is a Washington attorney who served on the bombing prosecution team.

He says Michael Fortier has paid his debt to society for failing to tell authorities of the bombing plot before the deadly blast.

Fortier is to be released Friday. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for failing to tip police off to the bombing. He's getting out now because of good-behavior time credits.

Goelman says Fortier's testimony was key in the prosecution of McVeigh and Nichols.