Oklahoma bomber to be silenced on May 16

The Bureau of Prisons set the date after the 32-year-old McVeigh last week stood by his earlier decision not to appeal his death sentence.

McVeigh has given no reason for his surprising decision to stop his appeals. He could become the first federal prisoner executed in the United States since 1963.

McVeigh was found guilty and sentenced to die in 1997 for the explosion that ripped through the Alfred P Murrah federal building on April 19, 1995.

The bombing killed 168 people, including 19 children in a day-care center in the building, and injured 500 others in the worst act of terrorism on US soil, federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said McVeigh and his US army buddy Terry Nichols, who was tried separately, meticulously planned the Oklahoma City bombing, buying racing fuel, ammonium nitrate fertilizer and a detonator cord to build a bomb in the rented Ryder truck that McVeigh Left in Front of the building.

McVeigh is among the prisoners housed in a special death row unit at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

The Bureau of Prisons, which runs the penitentiary, said in a five-paragraph announcement that the time of McVeigh’s execution will be disclosed at a later date.

It said written notification about the procedures for viewing the execution by victims or family members of the victims will be sent by letter from the US attorney’s office in Oklahoma when the procedures have been made final.

McVeigh was convicted in federal court in Denver of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, use of a weapon of mass destruction, destruction by explosive and eight counts of first degree murder.

A jury recommended the death penalty for McVeigh, and as required by law, US District Judge Richard Matsch formally imposed the death sentence on August 14, 1997.

The last civilian executed by the federal government was Victor Feguer, who was hanged in 1963 at the Iowa State Penitentiary for murder and kidnapping.

Now that the execution date has been set, McVeigh still could seek presidential clemency. His lawyer has said McVeigh has not made any decision regarding clemency.