Aberration in the Heartland of the Real: The Secret Lives of Timothy McVeigh

by Wendy S. Painting

Not surprisingly, the sponge-like McVeigh was an ardent X-Files fan, and after learning of the prosecution’s request to disqualify X-Files fans from the pool of potential jurors, he requested that his attorneys specifically include them on the jury and insisted that the defense jury-screening questionnaire include the question of whether or not potential jurors were fans of the X-Files. To illustrate his reasons, he had attorney Randy Coyne, who had never seen the show, record an episode and view it with him. McVeigh told Coyne the show was about “covert meetings in the night, secret goings-on” and focused on a “ghost government.” In a memo written to the other members of the defense team shortly after, Coyne said, “It is clear to me that the government will desperately try to keep all X-Files fans off Tim’s jury.” Coyne then attempted to explain the show to the rest of the team, telling them it was about two FBI agents who “find that the darker forces of evil are actually clandestine government officials and agencies.” Coyne added that as they watched the episode, McVeigh insisted on replaying one particular scene wherein Agent Scully chooses not to kill the person believed to have murdered her sister, and declares, “The truth is, no court, no punishment is ever enough.”