Ashcroft To Allow McVeigh Execution Aired

April 11 -- Attorney General John Ashcroft has decided to allow the execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh to be televised on closed-circuit television, sources told ABCNEWS.

Aschroft will announce his decision during a press conference on Thursday.

More than 250 people in Oklahoma City have requested a chance to see McVeigh's scheduled execution on May 16. The 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killed 168, including several children in a daycare center inside the building.

In a recently published book, American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing, McVeigh denied knowing that a daycare center was in the federal building but referred to the 19 children killed as "collateral damage."

Last December, a judge granted McVeigh's request to halt his appeals process and set an execution date. There are only 8 seats available in the death chamber at Terre Haute, Ind. and several families of the victims want a chance to either see the execution via closed circuit television in Oklahoma City or Terre Haute.

Federal laws prohibit the recording of an execution. With Ashcroft's decision to grant the families' request for a closed circuit feed, McVeigh's execution will be the first televised in the United States.

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The Need for Closure

Few families seem opposed to having a chance to see McVeigh die, even if they are not sure they would actually take the opportunity. Some see it as a chance to bring some closure to the loss of their loved ones.

"Attending Tim's execution — I'm not sure what my reactions are going to be, but since this incident I feel like I've been stalked from prison," said Janey Coverdale, who lost two grandchildren in the bombing. "Every time I feel like I'm moving forward, Tim says something that throws me back to where I was. So, once Tim is dead, at least I will have that peace."

Ashcroft will also announce the final procedures of the execution. McVeigh will be the first prisoner executed since 1963 and Ashcroft is trying to decide whether the procedures followed in his execution will be applied to other prisoners.