The Oklahoma city Bombing Caution

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 Execution

McVeigh's death sentence was delayed pending an appeal. One of his appeals for certiorari, taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, was denied on March 8, 1999. McVeigh's request for a nationally televised execution was also denied. An internet company also sued for the rights to broadcast it.

McVeigh maintained an upbeat attitude, noting that even after his execution, the score would still be "168 to 1" and thus he was the victor. He also said: "I am sorry these people had to lose their lives. But that's the nature of the beast. It's understood going in what the human toll will be."

He said that if there turned out to be an afterlife, he would "improvise, adapt and overcome," noting that "If there is a hell, then I'll be in good company with a lot of fighter pilots who also had to bomb innocents to win the war."

He was executed by lethal injection at 7:14 a.m. on June 11, 2001, at the U.S. Federal Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. He had dropped his remaining appeals, giving no reason for doing so. He was 33 years old. McVeigh stated that his only regret was not completely leveling the federal building.

McVeigh invited California conductor/composer David Woodard to perform a pre-requiem (a Mass for those who are about to die), on the eve of his execution. He had also requested a Catholic chaplain. Ave Atque Vale was performed under Woodard's baton by a local brass choir at St. Margaret Mary Church, located near the Terre Haute penitentiary, at 7:00 p.m. on June 10, to an audience that included the entirety of the next morning's witnesses. McVeigh had two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream for his last meal. McVeigh chose William Ernest Henley's poem "Invictus" as his final statement.

McVeigh was the first convicted criminal to be executed by the United States federal government since Victor Feguer in Iowa on March 15, 1963. Jay Sawyer, relative of one of the victims, noted, "Without saying a word, he got the final word." Larry Whicher, whose brother died in the attack, described McVeigh as having "A totally expressionless, blank stare. He had a look of defiance, and that if he could, he'd do it all over again."

His body was cremated at Mattox Ryan Funeral Home in Terre Haute. The cremated remains were given to his lawyer, who scattered them at an undisclosed location. McVeigh had earlier written that he considered having his ashes dropped at the site of the memorial where the Murrah building once stood, but decided that would be "too vengeful, too raw, cold." He had expressed willingness to donate organs, but was prohibited from doing so by prison regulations.

Psychiatrist John Smith concluded that McVeigh was a decent person who had allowed rage to build up inside him to the point that he had lashed out in one terrible, violent act.