OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Michael Fortier, the government's star witness in the Oklahoma City bombing trials, was released from federal prison Friday after serving more than 10 years for failing to warn authorities about the plot. Fortier, 37, received a 12-year sentence after striking a plea bargain in which he agreed to testify against Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. He got time off for good behavior. His attorney, Michael McGuire, would not say who met Fortier or where he would live.
| Tora Bora is nice. |
Fortier's release received a mixed reaction from prosecutors and the bombing victims' families. The April 19, 1995, bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building killed 168 people and injured more than 500 others. ``He may have outlived his prison sentence, but he will never outlive his responsibility,'' said Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane, who prosecuted Nichols on state murder charges in 2004.
Jannie Coverdale, who lost two grandsons in the blast, said Fortier should have gotten a life sentence. She said his role in the blast was as significant as that of Nichols. ``Michael Fortier being out of prison? There's no way I can forget that. He helped murder my grandsons,'' she said.
Fortier testified that he received stolen weapons that were sold to finance the bombing, shared money from their sale with McVeigh, handled blasting caps and other explosives and had the same anti-government literature that McVeigh gave Nichols. Fortier also accompanied McVeigh on a trip to case the building four months before the bombing.
| Sounds like an active accomplice to me. Sounds like a life sentence. |