Lawyers Seek McVeigh Execution Webcast

April 17, 2001 -- 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.

U.S. Attorney Timothy Morrison originally sought a dismissal of ENI's case, citing the federal law that prohibits recording of a federal execution. In legal paper filed with the court, his office says that federal law has been repeatedly ruled constitutional.

Prison officials, who originally dismissed a letter from ENI asking for a Web cam to be placed in the execution chamber, said they didn't want the case sensationalized. They also said they were concerned over the impact a Webcast would have on other inmates and the prisoner's rights to privacy, although in this case, McVeigh has already said in a letter to a newspaper that he wishes his execution to be public.

Marshlack found the arguments unconvincing. "This is a huge governmental action and we have a right to witness the act," he said. "They told us they didn't want it to be sensationalized. I think that's ridiculous."

Marshlack added that since the Oklahoma City bombing affected so many people and since it's the first federal execution since 1963 the event should be public.

"There needs to be closure and we need to broadcast this for the nation to have closure," he said.

Death Opponents Not Eager for Broadcast

While federal authorities are barring the general broadcast of the execution, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced last week that it would be broadcast over a closed-circuit to some 250 survivors and relatives of people killed in the blast. It will also be witnessed by 10 representatives from the media, which Morrison says satisfies First Amendment requirements.

Ashcroft said the unique circumstances of the case warranted the limited broadcast, and he appealed to the media not to sensationalize the case or provide McVeigh a platform.

Anti-death penalty advocates are not eager to see the killing broadcast.

"Publicizing executions would just make them more commonplace," said Tonya McClary, domestic program director for the Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "Could there be a time when people just turn on their television and sit back and watch an execution?"

Because of the "uncivil nature" of executions the likelihood of the company winning rights to the Webcast seem dim, said Paula Bernstein of the Washington. D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center. "When executions used to be public they became unruly and rowdy events. There's a reluctance to go back to those times."

Last Public Execution Led to Unrest

The last time an execution was public was the hanging of Rosco Jackson in Missouri in 1937. Once the hanging was over, an unruly crowd looted stores and caused havoc in the town of Galena.

The sheriff then reportedly cut up the noose and handed out pieces for souvenirs.

"People just thought it was in bad taste," Bernstein said. "That is still pretty much the consensus."

At a press conference concerning the media's access to McVeigh before the execution, Ashcroft said, "I would ask that the news media not become Timothy McVeigh's co-conspirator in his assault on America's public safety and upon America itself."

McVeigh was convicted of causing the deaths of 168 people in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Usually only eight to 10 people may witness an execution.