Ancestors of Alfred I Paul Murrah, Federal District Judge
Generation No. 1
1.AlfredI PaulMurrah, Federal District Judge, born October 27, 1904 in TISHOMINGO, INDIAN TERRITORY, UNITED STATES; died October 30, 1975 in OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA, UNITED STATES. He was the son of 2. GeorgeWasingtonMurrah and 3. LenoraM.Simmons. He married (1) AgnesMilam. She died 1994. She was the daughter of M.V. Milam.
Notes for Alfred I Paul Murrah, Federal District Judge:
THE ALFRED P. MURRAH FEDERAL BUILDING
THE OKLAHOMA LAND RUN OF APRIL 19, 1892
MURRAH FEDERAL BUILDING
APRIL 19, 1995
The Surrounding Properties
[of the Alfred E. Murrah Federal Building.]
The Journal Record Building had been constructed in 1923 by the Masonic
Temple Building Association of Oklahoma Lodge Number Thirty-Six, and for
fourteen years its auditorium played host to many illustrious entertainers.
The Masons and the India Temple Shrine used the new Masonic Temple as
their principal place of business for seven years until 1930, when both
organizations moved to other locations. After the explosions of April 19,
1995, the ornate columns and symbolic temple architecture adorning the east
side of the Journal Record Building was all that remained unscathed. The
rest of the building, inside and out, was a wreck.
Many of the properties in the immediate vicinity of the Murrah Building had
originally been owned by the Oklahoma Masonic Lodge Number Thirty-Six, the
India Temple Shrine, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the
Knights of Columbus. For almost fifty years following the Oklahoma Land Run
of 1889, these four organizations had leased, borrowed, bought, and traded
the properties among themselves.
Most of those fraternal organizations lost their downtown property holdings
during the Great Depression of the 1930s. These properties included land on
which would eventually be built the Myriad Convention Center, the BancFirst
Building, the Wright Building, the Kerr McGee Complex, the Colcord Building,
the Internal Revenue Service Office Complex, the Federal Courthouse
Building, the Oklahoma Natural Gas Building, the Oklahoma City Hall, the
Maney Building, the YMCA Parking Annex, Liberty Bank Tower, Trigen of
Oklahoma, the White Temple, the Journal Record Building, and the Murrah
Building.
In November 1995, as federal prosecutors were preparing the Oklahoma City
bombing case, it was discovered that the Murrah Building had been built upon
a piece of property known as Block 39. Much mystery still surrounds the
property, and as of this writing the issue has not yet been resolved. It
seems that the Murrah Building itself was owned by the federal government;
however, there was no documentation in any of the real-estate records that
indicated that the government had ever taken possession of the land upon
which the building stood. In the absence of that vital possession document,
it was ruled that both the federal and local governments had concurrent
jurisdiction in the case against the men accused of the bombing, and thus
murder charges could be brought against the suspects at every court
level.
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WINDS - Oklahoma City Bombing Grand Jury Discredited
OKLAHOMA BOMBING GRAND JURY LOSES CREDIBILITY
Clinton Administration Successful in Establishing Party Line
The Oklahoma County Grand Jury recently concluded its 133-day inquiry into
the bombing of the federal building. Governor Frank Keating praised the group by
saying: "Their conclusions and their very thorough report will hopefully put an
end to unfounded conspiracy theories and irresponsible claims about the
bombing."
While public officials in Oklahoma express satisfaction with the grand
jury's efforts and continue working to put the the matter to final rest, the
unanswered questions still persist. Although McVeigh and Nichols have been
convicted as the sole perpetrators of the bombing, and the grand jury has issued
its concluding report and disbanded, still, the troubling questions that have
plagued this investigation from its tragic origin, have not been answered. The
disturbing questions have been covered and silenced under a continuing shroud of
official denial.
FEDERAL GRAND JURY - THE COVER-UP BEGINS
The immediate response to the bombing was the formation of a federal grand
jury. It was organized to investigate the bombing and issue indictments against
all perpetrators of the deadly terrorist attack. Hoppy Heidelberg was a member
of that original grand jury. Heidelburg told The WINDS of his experience as a
grand juror, the response of officials to his appeal for a comprehensive,
independent investigation, and his removal from that position due to his
insistence on conscientiously fulfilling his responsibilities.
During the initial investigative phase of the grand jury, Heidelburg's
attempts to have specific witnesses called, which were considered critical to
the establishment of the basic facts, were obstructed. He said these witnesses
would have substantiated whether the degree and pattern of damage to the Murrah
building was compatible with a truck bomb.
"I tried to call the architect of the [Murrah] building because I needed to
know how strong the columns were," said Heidelburg. "I needed to know what they
could withstand in pounds per square inch pressure. I wanted a structural
engineer to tell whether the building was built according to specifications. I
wanted the structural engineer to analyze the [column] stumps and also the
remaining columns to determine whether they could withstand that kind of
pressure. Then I needed an explosives expert to tell me how many pounds per
square inch 4800 pounds of ammonium nitrate produced at ground zero. Then I
needed a mathematician or an explosives expert, whoever could give me the
formula for the dissipation of energy over distance. Then you have to plug in
all the numbers and you can determine which, if any, of the columns could have
been destroyed by a truck bomb."
Heidelburg says, "as a grand juror, I had every right to call any witness
that was involved, any expert I needed. I was prevented from doing all of that."
He was further prohibited from showing the police sketch of John Doe II to any
of the witnesses. "They did not want me to pursue John Doe II at all," said the
former grand juror.
It was his attempts to discover these fundamental facts which brought about
Heidelburg's sudden removal from the grand jury. After repeated attempts to have
these crucial expert witnesses called he said, "I finally wrote the presiding
judge a letter and told him. Once the judge had that letter he had a problem. If
he had denied me those witnesses, then he would have been guilty of obstruction
of justice, but if he had allowed me to have those witnesses, then I would have
it figured out. So he didn't have any choice but to kick me off; that way he
could prevent either one of those [allowing the expert witness testimony or the
obstruction of justice charge] from happening. That's how he got out from
between his rock and hard place."
Heidelburg said the judge didn't explain his dismissal, "He just wrote me a
letter and said, 'you're out.'" Heidelburg said the threats and intimidation
attempts were both overt and forceful. The base conduct of the FBI and federal
officials toward Heidelburg is reminiscent of tactics used against some who have
been labeled as Mr. Clinton's foes.
Following Heidelburg's dismissal, federal prosecutors proceeded to prevent
every witness to any "John Does" from appearing before the Federal Grand Jury.
There exist more than twenty such witnesses, yet not one was allowed to tell the
grand jury what they saw. Federal prosecutors prohibited those witnesses from
being seen or heard by grand jurors.
Former Oklahoma State Representative Charles Key stated that "the federal
grand jury wanted to interview both the eye witnesses and the sketch artist who
drew the John Doe composites but they were flatly refused by the federal
'authorities.' Clearly they were blatantly deprived of their basic
constitutional rights as grand jurors. Why? Just what is it that they are trying
to accomplish? Or, perhaps more pointedly, just who are they trying to protect?
And what all are they trying to hide?"[1]
With Heidelburg off the grand jury and other dissenting voices overwhelmed
by official pressure and media silence, the indictment and conviction solely of
McVeigh and Nichols went forward according to plan. This essentially assured
that the one-man, one-bomb theory would prevail, suppressing all knowledge of
wider involvement.
GOVERNMENT LABORS TO "KEEP THE LID ON"
With the federal trials successfully behind them, public officials were
still faced with scrutiny from independent investigators and concerned citizens.
The impanelment of the Oklahoma County Grand Jury brought strenuous objections
from some officials. District Attorney Bob Macy, Attorney General Drew Edmondson
and Governor Frank Keating were all severely critical of citizen involvement.
State officials initiated court action to halt efforts to impanel the grand
jury, but their petition was overturned at the state court of appeals level.
Then came the assault on supporters of the grand jury in the press. Charles
Key observed: "People in powerful positions have repeatedly attacked those of us
who have been scrutinizing the federal investigation. Governor Keating went so
far as to say that 'raising questions would not bring one whit of intelligence
to the process.' He later escalated his attacks saying those who were raising
serious questions were 'howling at the moon' and 'off the reservation.'" [2]
Drew Edmondson, Attorney General, maligned efforts to impanel the grand jury,
saying it was proposing a "wasteful witch hunt" and pushing "the worst kind of
paranoid conspiracy pandering."
"THE PEOPLE COULDN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH"
A significant acknowledgment was published in the Washington Weekly. It
constitutes the "lying excuse" that those in powerful positions use to justify
their deception. The report states that, "ABC was getting ready to run a major
story on the prior knowledge issue. The Justice Department became aware of it
and contacted some of the executives at ABC. After acknowledging the validity of
the story they put extreme pressure on ABC not to air the report saying, 'The
people couldn't handle the truth.'" [3]
Another pretext employed by officials to evade unwanted examination is the
"national security" ruse. A prime example of this ploy is reported in the
Chicago Tribune. Congressman Henry Hyde said his committee was planning a top to
bottom review of Justice Department spending. The Tribune quotes Abner Mikva, a
former White House counsel as saying: "Congress must move cautiously, Justice
[Department] handles sensitive investigations...and many techniques must remain
secret. If Chairman Hyde starts asking about all the dollars they spent in
Oklahoma City, that can compromise some very, very delicate information." [4]
Responding to Mikva's " national security concerns," Cate McCauley of the
Oklahoma Bombing Investigation Committee (OKBIC) said, "I've heard this over and
over again, 'No, you can't question certain people about things for national
security reasons.' Well, if it's two guys and a Ryder truck, what are they so
worried about?" [5]
OKLAHOMA COUNTY GRAND JURY - THE COVER-UP CONTINUES
The Oklahoma County grand jury issued a 21-page report concluding its
session. As one seasoned observer put it, "There was not one single new
development on the bombing." Irven Box, a criminal attorney who sat through the
trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols stated: "Basically the grand jury
validated the federal government's theory of the case." [6] Considering the
nature of the testimony which they were exposed to, much of which was diametric
to government theory, the grand jury's conclusions were surprising to many; yet
there were forces at work on the grand jury which may not have been readily
apparent on the surface. The WINDS interviewed numerous witnesses who testified,
and serious doubts were expressed about the independence of the grand jury.
The presiding judge over the grand jury was William Burkett who displayed
his bias against those who question the government's version of events. Cate
McCauley recalled that "Burkett made very inappropriate public statements at
Southern Nazarene University which is in Rep. Charles Key's district. He said
the grand jurors, instead of investigating the bombing case, should indict
Charles Key. It's very discouraging to hear of that type of conduct from the
judge who is in charge of this grand jury." [7]
Independent investigator Pat Briley told The WINDS that Judge Burkett made
a statement to a group of reporters at a major radio station in Oklahoma City to
the effect that "I'm going to make certain that this grand jury does nothing but
follow the official line of the Justice Department."
Briley says, "If you read the grand jury report, everything this judge has
said since that time and his violation of the statutes, clearly showed that's
what his intention was, and he did carry it out. He said in advance that he was
going to do it, he had the means to do it, and he did it. Now that's just the
beginning. If you look at the instruction he gave to the grand jurors that were
published, they were in absolute violation of the statutes.
"Basically, jurors were not allowed to consider any hearsay evidence,"
Briley continued. "That totally undercuts the way grand juries run, state and
federal. The way you get firsthand witnesses is that you call credible,
secondhand, hearsay witnesses to get closer to firsthand witnesses, you do an
investigation, that's the function of a grand jury."
Briley also said that "Judge Burkett told the jurors in their instructions
that they could not consider hearsay evidence or witness testimony. They could
hear it, but they could not use it to either come up with indictments or use it
as a basis for calling other witnesses.
"The other thing that happened in the grand jury process was very, very
clear to many witnesses that I've talked to. All of them characterized treatment
in the jury room by the District Attorneys [who were legal advisors to the
jurors] as prosecutorial and adversarial, attempting to discredit what they
said."
Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy's opposition to impaneling the
grand jury was no secret. From the first he withstood the Oklahoma Bombing
Investigation Committee's efforts to encourage an independent investigation into
the many unanswered questions and inconsistencies that have dogged the official
probe. Charles Key says members of the committee have been "dragged through the
mud, court battles, and a bogus multi-county investigation" by Bob Macy and
others.
Only after the OKBIC won the appeal to impanel the grand jury did Bob Macy
seemingly drop his opposition to their work. Why would he relinquish his
"principled" stand? Could it be that his opportunity of presenting the case to
the grand jury placed him in a position to neutralize any real independent work
which they might do?
That is, in fact, what several who testified before the grand jury
observed. In both overt and covert ways the legal advisors worked to insinuate
doubt and question toward anyone who suggested deviation from the government's
simplistic one-man, one-bomb theory.
Cate McCauley said: "We've never criticized the grand jurors but as far as
the prosecutors, the judge in the case, the Oklahoma Attorney General, and on
down the list, these people have tried to sway this grand jury more than anyone
else. They've said ordinary people cannot investigate a crime of this magnitude,
that we are nothing more than a bunch of conspiracy nuts, that we have no
legitimate interest in this.
"I know for a fact from having been in the grand jury room that the
so-called legal advisors have overstepped their boundaries," McCauley said.
"According to the criminal procedure code of Oklahoma, they are not supposed to
run this like a trial and they are not supposed to give their opinion on
evidence even when asked. I know that they have done both because one of them
did it in front of me. I think these prosecutors have swayed this grand jury
into thinking that anything that comes from our committee or anything that comes
from people who disagree with the government's party line is not credible.
"Are the grand jurors part of some grand conspiracy? No, not at all,"
McCauley continued. "I believe this is simply a case of good people trusting and
relying on their legal advisors. They [the advisors] most likely told them the
government's case had no flaws and there was no need to investigate it any
further since the prosecutors had already done that in the federal trials. It's
not a farfetched assumption to assume the jurors depended on that advice." [8]
Another who testified before the grand jury told The WINDS anonymously that
"there were several legal problems with that grand jury and the manner in which
the process was conducted inside the grand jury room that I think were
indicative of decided predetermination of outcome regardless of witness
testimony, and problems with the adversarial nature of the DA's office
representatives and their manner of 'assisting.'
"We are all the 'bad guys' because we didn't believe the 'official story.'
They listened to us, but they could not accept any of it, and they decided we
were all lacking in credibility... which is incredulous to me because of all of
the solid indisputable evidence that was laid at their feet.
"That final [grand jury] report is a DISGRACE and a scandal all of its
own...but it does most clearly demonstrate the power wielded to keep this matter
closed, witnesses silenced, the evidence suppressed...that kind of suppression
doesn't happen by itself."
OKBIC's Cate McCauley tells of a woman named Tiffany Bible, "an Emergency
Medical Services worker who was on the scene within five minutes of the
explosion. She was in the station south of the Murrah Building, and she
responded immediately. She saw ATF agents on the scene in very clean black jump
suits. They had not been in the building, because they were clean. She noticed
that because there was dust everywhere. She had a conversation after the
[second] bomb scare which occurred at 10:15 or 10:30. She was standing there
with an ATF agent and a law enforcement person, by the federal courthouse on the
south side, waiting for the all clear. They were saying, 'Yeah, there was a
device strapped to a gas line, underneath the stairwell.' And she distinctly
remembers that statement because she had spent most of her time in that
stairwell, trying to recover people. She said, 'I could have got blown to
kingdom come.' She came forward to us, and she has since testified to the grand
jury. It is that kind of testimony that is really hard to ignore." [9]
THE INTERNATIONAL ELEMENT
Evidence abounds of the involvement of others in the federal building
bombing. Many sources have solid information relating to the participation of
"Middle Eastern types." One such individual is a man in a position to have
firsthand knowledge; he was an undercover agent hired to inform the government
of just such threats.
Cary Gagan, a man in his early 50's, is a federal informant who had
received immunity from the U.S. Justice Department when he provided them with
specific information regarding plans to blow up a federal building in April
1995--months before the bombing actually took place. [10]
In September, 1994, U.S. Attorney for Colorado Henry Solano and Assistant
U.S. Attorney James Allison prepared a letter of immunity for Gagan. The letter
is an agreement detailing "information concerning a conspiracy and/or attempt to
destroy United States court facilities in Denver and possibly other cities."
Under the terms of their pledge, Gagan was assured, "the United States agrees
that no evidence derived from the information or statements provided by you will
be used in any way against you."
Gagan claimed to have been recruited by Arabs or Iranians operating through
Mexico to deliver explosives for a series of planned bombings of federal
buildings in Denver, Phoenix, and Oklahoma City. At various meetings in Las
Vegas, Denver, and Kingman, Arizona, he met with Omar, Ahmad, and other
representatives of the Hizbollah terrorist organization, as well as male
Caucasian American citizens. [11]
Referring to himself as "plaintiff," Gagan relates details of a meeting he
attended near Denver just one month prior to the bombing in Oklahoma City. "On
March 17, 1995, in this meeting at the Hilton Inn South in Greenwood Village,
Colorado, where the plaintiff was present with three members of this terrorist
organization, displayed on the table were the construction plans of the Alfred
Murrah Federal Building bearing the name J.W. Bateson Company of Dallas, Texas,
with one of these terrorists allegedly traveling to Denver for this meeting from
Oklahoma City.
"On March 27, 1995, and again on April 6, 1995, Gagan delivered urgent
written warnings to federal authorities in Denver alerting them to an imminent
bombing attack. He insists that he followed these up with repeated telephone
calls, all of which were ignored. His handwritten warning of April 1st to U.S.
Marshall Tina Rowe Gagan said:
Dear Ms. Rowe: After leaving Denver for what I thought would be for a long
time, I returned here last night because I have specific information that
within two weeks a federal building(s) is to be bombed in the area or nearby.
The previous requests I made for you to contact me, 27th & 28th of [March] 95,
were ignored by you, Mr. Allison and my friends at the FBI. I would not ignore
this specific request for you personally to contact me immediately regarding a
plot to blow up a federal building. If the information is false, request Mr.
Allison to charge me accordingly. If you and/or your office does not contact
me as I so request herein I will never again contact any law enforcement
agency, federal or state, regarding those matters set out in the letter of
immunity. -- Cary Gagan." [12]
In an extraordinary example of betrayal, the U.S. Attorneys rescinded their
earlier pledge of immunity to Gagan after he had at great personal risk,
repeatedly delivered prior warning of the bombing plot, which officials chose to
ignore. In a February 1, 1996 letter to Gagan, Solano and Allison wrote:
'Attempts by federal law enforcement officers to meaningfully corroborate
information you have alleged to be true have been unsuccessful.... Therefore,
the immunity granted by the letter of September 14, 1994 is hereby revoked.'
Moreover, wrote the pair, 'You are warned that any statement you make which
would incriminate you in illegal conduct, past, present or future can be used
against you. You are no longer protected by the immunity granted by letter on
September 14, 1994.'" [13]
Cate McCauley says Mr. Gagan is currently unprotected. "He is guilty of
actively participating in the preparations for both the internal and external
explosions that destroyed the Murrah Building; he is without cover; he is
surveilled and stalked by both his so-called friends and his enemies because of
what he knows, and what he did, and who he is telling. The fact that he did what
he did with the blessing of United States federal government agencies -- and on
their behalf -- doesn't seem to matter to them anymore." [14]
CRUCIAL TESTIMONY THE GRAND JURY DIDN'T HEAR
Pat Briley says there were numerous witnesses who saw Timothy McVeigh with
those who appeared to be Middle Eastern in Oklahoma City before the bombing and
the day of the bombing. These witnesses were never called before the grand jury.
In other cases where witnesses identify involvement of multiple "John Does"
they were decidedly prevented from testifying. Jane Graham is one of those. She
was witness to significant events which overturn the story officials have
constructed; yet Graham can hardly be construed to be an extremist or
"conspiracy nut" as so many others have been. Graham is local president of the
American Federation of Government Workers and is an employee of the Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). She was at work in the Murrah Building
at the time of the bombing. In a video affidavit, she gives a vivid and detailed
description of events she witnessed in the days prior to the bombing.
The Friday prior to the bombing Graham drove into the parking garage which
is below ground level. She pulled into her parking spot and discovered three men
in the basement. She noticed one of them was holding plans for the building. She
saw that the other two had wire and some kind of putty-colored substance. She
watched them from her car as they argued. When they saw that she was watching
them, the man who appeared to be in charge told the other two to put the
materials away in a dirty, older model sedan. She wasn't able to see the car's
license plate. Graham became uneasy when the three men began watching her. They
wore street cloths and were not repairmen or telephone people, who would have
been dressed in uniforms. She was wary about the incident, but let it drop at
the time. There were four others who also saw these three men the same day in
the parking garage.
Graham also saw two men rush past her on the morning of the bombing. They
were coming out of a stairwell that could be accessed only from a secure area of
the building. These men wore General Services Administration maintenance
uniforms but she recognized they were not the regular maintenance men who were
normally in the building. The "coincidence" of two GSA maintenance men being
replaced on the same day seemed unlikely and Graham was puzzled. She had no
explanation for the strange people doing strange things in the federal building,
that is, until 9:02 AM when the building was heavily damaged by two powerful
explosions.
Graham told The WINDS she felt the activities she had observed, the
firsthand eyewitness testimony would be critical to a valid, aboveboard grand
jury investigation. She contacted District Attorney Bob Macy's office to make
request for a presentation to the jurors. After repeated futile attempts, it
became obvious that the DA's office was unyielding in its opposition to her
testimony. The jurors were prevented from hearing what she had to say.
The efforts to impanel the county grand jury began after the failure of the
federal grand jury to act in an independent manner in determining what actually
happened in the OKC bombing. Many of these same forces have come to bear upon
the county grand jury, rendering it merely the instrument of powerful forces
bent on covering up the truth.
The government's $50 million dollar investment to ensure that their "two
boys and a Ryder truck" theory is not debunked has become transparent. The
actual details of the deadly attack may not be available at this time, but as
Cate McCauley said, "I think there was a network of people who had access to the
inside of that building. Whether this is a bigger, badder set of terrorists than
anything they've come up with yet, I don't know. Who hired these people to go do
this? That's what makes it so difficult - that you have, probably, layers
between the free-lancers and the evil genius, as we tend to call him. Somebody
got in that building, and the list narrows down when you consider means, motive,
opportunity, and expertise. It's not something you walk off the street and do."
[15]
THE FINAL JIHAD
The Final Jihad is said to be a fictional account of terror and intrigue
authored by Oklahoma governor Frank Keating's brother, Martin Keating. Written
in 1991, but not released until 1996, it has been called prophetic because of
the many terrorist crimes which have been perpetrated with amazing similarity to
its story line.
Four years before the devastating Oklahoma City bombing Martin Keating
wrote of a terrorist network in Oklahoma with a central figure named Tom McVey.
He tells of the terrorist's arrest based on a minor traffic violation by an
unsuspecting highway patrolman.
At the time Timothy McVeigh was originally apprehended by an unsuspecting
state trooper near Perry Oklahoma- only an hour and a half after the bombing-
televised news accounts for several hours thereafter were reporting the arrest
of "Thomas McVeigh" (Tom McVey?). Was this a simple mistake or an unplanned
slip?
Is this a bizarre, uncanny coincidence or is there some strange connection?
The publicity notes which promote the book on an Internet site claim that
"Martin Keating is a master storyteller with unique access to government
intelligence agencies and clandestine terrorist groups. His brother Frank
Keating, currently governor of Oklahoma, is a former FBI agent and assistant
secretary of the Treasury who supervised the Secret Service, U.S. Customs, and
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms."
The notes further reveal that Keating was "introduced to the intelligence
community through generations of family involvement. Martin Keating knows
intimate details of what the rest of us can only imagine.
More About Alfred I Paul Murrah, Federal District Judge:
Namesake: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Social Security Number: 441-46-8744
