McVeigh trial finally begins, but little doubt remains

McVeigh trial finally begins, but little doubt remains

Exactly one year, 11 months, and 12 days after the Oklahoma City bombing the trial of Timothy McVeigh, one of the men charged in the bombing, will begin.Do you remember where you were when 168 people died in the blast that ripped apart a federal building in Oklahoma City?Many of us were here at Ohio State at the time of the bombing (9:02 a.m.), getting ready for class, swallowing down the last bits of cold cereal as the television station broke through with a Special Report and told us the grisly news.By late afternoon most people had heard the news and were asking, in stunned voices, who could have done such a thing?Today the trial begins, however in some ways it feels like a mere formality. There doesn’t seem to be much controversy surrounding McVeigh’s guilt. If there are people who believe in the man’s innocence they are not very vocal about it. In a country that prides itself in its judicial system, that believes one is innocent until proven guilty, the McVeigh trial is problematic.Is it possible for the accused to get an impartial jury? Is there a person in this country who hasn’t seen the now famous photograph of the Fireman carrying the injured child from the wreckage?We believe the people involved in this trial will do everything in their power to give McVeigh a fair trial. However, we are not sure that it is in their power to erase the memory of a nation of McVeigh’s peers shocked to its core by this brutal act. What seemed most important to the public was that someone was found, and that blame could be placed. When the news of the bombing first spread, it was assumed that the terrorist attack came from outside. When McVeigh was arrested, the bombing became a frightening domestic problem and the country had to face the prospect that we do not stand united.However, despite the unsettling idea that our most dangerous enemies might be our next door neighbors, the country seems comfortable laying the blame on the shoulders of the two men accused. This is a trial where the accused are guilty until proven innocent.Perhaps as a people we should have a problem with this, perhaps we should be concerned that our justice system is not what we hold it up to be. After all, what if these men are innocent?Perhaps we should be concerned but the fact is that our justice system, like the rest of our government, is flawed just as humans are flawed. Therefore what we create will be flawed too. We do the best we can with what we have.McVeigh will stand trial, and unless his lawyer works a miracle, the general public will have no reason to feel surprise at the outcome. Should the defense manage a mistrial, it is very likely that we will see a brand of justice which our country has tried its best to avoid: vigilante justice.There may be questions raised about this trial but the only complaints will most likely come from the defense.