Lawyers Seek McVeigh Execution Webcast

April 17 -- An Internet company that specializes in voyeuristic entertainment argued today in federal court that it should be allowed to broadcast the execution of Timothy McVeigh on the Web, for a small fee.

Lawyers for Florida-based Entertainment Network Inc., which operates porn sites as well as the VoyeurDorm and Dormdudes sites, argued before the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis that the law barring the broadcast of executions is unconstitutional and that the public has the right to see the federal government execute an inmate for the first time since 1963.

"There aren't any overriding government issues that would justify the prohibition of audio/visual images of the execution," said Derek Newman, attorney for Entertainment Network Inc.

ENI wants to send one person into the execution chamber with a hand-held video camera that would feed live footage to the company's Web site. If the court doesn't allow that, ENI would accept a feed from the closed-circuit video that the families of bombing victims will watch in Oklahoma City.

But Gerald Coraz, assistant U.S. attorney, told Judge John D. Tinder today that barring cameras from executions does not violate the public's rights.

"The Constitution does not require that those who wish to record courts or executions be allowed to do so," Coraz said. "The legislatures of every state that has executions, and the federal government, have decided that executions should not be public spectacles."

Tinder said he would rule on the case no sooner than Friday afternoon.

‘Huge Governmental Action’

If allowed to, ENI will charge $1.95 for the McVeigh Webcast, paid by credit card so children can't view, said David Marshlack, ENI chief executive. Marshlack., whose site also hosted a live chat by O.J. Simpson, said proceeds will go to charity.

The last time the question of whether an execution could be televised was in 1994 when Phil Donahue tried to get permission to broadcast an execution in North Carolina. The case went to the Supreme Court and the justices ruled that executions could not be recorded or photographed.