Opinion
Criminal Action No. 96-CR-68-M
June 7, 2001
ORDER ON MOTION TO CLARIFY
On May 23, 2001, the government filed a pleading designated as "Motion to Clarify," requesting that this court enter an order stating that the court's order of June 24, 1998, granting the motion of the United States to remove restrictions on federal cooperation with Oklahoma state prosecuting authorities allows the government to provide the "recently-discovered materials" to Oklahoma authorities under the same terms and conditions as it provided the earlier materials under the June 24, 1998, order. The court directed responses from present counsel for Timothy James McVeigh and Terry Lynn Nichols. Mr. McVeigh's counsel has no objection to the order requested by the motion, subject to the pre-existing protective order in this case. Mr. Nichols' counsel filed a response on May 31, 2001, stating that there was no objection to the release of the disclosed materials on those same terms and conditions and also requesting an evidentiary hearing to "address the extent of materials to be produced and the process by which they are to be produced." In that response, Mr. Nichols' counsel challenges the statements made by government counsel and the request for hearing is to direct the government to report on efforts to locate files and explain certain other files. There are no present proceedings pending in this court on behalf of Terry Lynn Nichols and the requested hearing is, therefore, not relevant or ancillary to any matters within the jurisdiction of the court. The only question presented is whether the government's motion should be granted to enable cooperation by providing the disclosed materials to the Oklahoma authorities and state defense counsel for their use in the criminal proceedings against Terry Lynn Nichols pending in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is therefore
ORDERED that the government's motion is granted with the limitation that the Oklahoma authorities and defense counsel agree to the restricted disclosure of the materials to be received in the same manner as those which were provided pursuant to this court's June 24, 1998, order and it is
FURTHER ORDERED that the motion for an evidentiary hearing by Terry Lynn Nichols is denied.