McVeigh's lawyers want him to pursue his legal appeals, but unless a judge finds McVeigh mentally incompetent, he has the right to end them. McVeigh's statement said he would submit to a psychological evaluation but that he would not discuss why he wants to end his appeals. For anyone to deduce from what has been filed that he wants to die is presumptuous. Visiting days on Texas' crowded death row have never sounded quite so unfamiliar. Family members still share emotional moments with the condemned.
Children wave to absent fathers.
Spouses, separated by reinforced glass, struggle for some meaningful connection. But mixed with those voices and soft cries are distinct accents representing France, Italy, Germany, Norway and Great Britain. Texas Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Fitzgerald describes this weekly collision of tongues as death row's own Tower of Babel. In most of Europe, capital punishment is regarded as a moral outrage. In recent years, growing contingents of overseas visitors to death row have included legal experts, journalists and counselors.