U.S.

McVeigh Balks Over Autopsies

September 1, 2000 / 1:26 PM EDT / AP

Convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh is objecting to autopsies for federal death row inmates.

But a relative of two of the bombing victims says McVeigh's concerns are misdirected.

McVeigh, who's on death row at a federal prison in Indiana, has joined the protest over an Indiana coroner's decision to autopsy federal death-row inmates after execution.

Prisoner McVeigh wrote the Terre Haute Tribune-Star a letter saying he and other condemned prisoners oppose autopsies for a number of reasons, ranging from unnecessary mutilation to religious concerns.

McVeigh was sentenced to death for the 1995 federal building bombing that caused 168 deaths.

Jannie Coverdale, whose two grandchildren were killed in the blast, says McVeigh should be more concerned about where his soul is going than about what happens to his body.