On December 24, 1996 The Oklahoma Court of Appeals granted the request of Oklahoma State Representative Charles Key to investigate the federal government s investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing. This ruling would have allowed Key to continue his efforts to have an independent County Grand Jury impaneled, however, the ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court. Pending the decision, Representative Key along with survivors and family members of victims of the bombing, continued to raise questions about the prior knowledge by federal government of the bombing and lack of pursuit of John Doe suspects who were seen by many witnesses, and the possibility that Obstruction of Justice has occurred.
ABC 20-20 with Barbara Walters aired a special segment in January of 1997 on the private investigation of State Representative Key and others of alleged FBI cover-ups involving the bombing. Key contends, "The Federal Grand Jury met for several months but during that whole time, not even one of the twenty-plus witnesses who saw a John Doe with Timothy McVeigh were allowed to come before the grand jury." The three member panel of appellate judges actively chided Assistant District Attorney Beverly Palmer for attempting to deny the impaneling of the Grand Jury, as she represented District Judge Daniel Owens and his legal arguments . The judges stated that Oklahoma law was clear in giving citizens the right to have a Grand Jury impaneled to investigate matters they deemed necessary and that the petition was legally sufficient in its call. Charles Key and his colleagues clearly were vindicated by the appellate court decision, yet the mainstream news media in Oklahoma continued to belittle Key's efforts. Recently the Oklahoma State Supreme Court upheld the appellate court decision, ruling in favor of Representative Key and allowing him to proceed with the independent grand jury investigation. On April 17, 1997 Representative Key conducted a news conference announcing the final legal hurdle had been cleared, and began passing circulating petitions for the historic independent Grand Jury investigation. True to form, the rubber stamp team within the establishment mass media did what they could to minimalize the landmark ruling and clear victory for Charles Key and the families of the victims of Oklahoma tragedy. The most recent low blow dealt to Key by his political opponents happened on May 5, 1997 at 12:30 PM in the middle of the lunch hour at the Oklahoma City Capitol building, when Representative Key was issued a backdated (May 1) Subpoena commanding him to appear at 9:00 AM May 7 before the State of Oklahoma Multi county Grand Jury in Oklahoma City. This gave Key less than two days to comply. The ambiguous document is construed by some as being an outright attempt to sabotage Key's fund-raising effort on behalf of his quest to impanel an independent County Grand Jury. Anyone desiring to research the depths of this malicious prosecution may review Document MCGJ-95-1418 from the District Court of Oklahoma County. Now Representative Key must split his efforts between complying with voluminous paperwork requests of the Multi county Grand Jury while he attempts to successfully garner the 5,000 signatures necessary to impanel his own County Grand Jury. The glaring difference is that his opposition never had to gather signatures, thus the double standard marches on. One of the many bizarre elitist moves was the fact that the Assistant Attorney General of Oklahoma Jane Wheeler signed the Supeona on May 1, 1997 but her signature was "witnessed" by Oklahoma County Court Clerk Patricia Presley who dated her "witnessing" signature on April 14. Either Ms. Presley has conquered time travel, or perhaps she may have pre-signed some blank documents for her superiors. Glen Wilburn and his wife Kathy, who lost two grand children in the daycare center of the federal building, joined Key in the petitioning to have the County Grand Jury impaneled. Wilburn has also conducted an extensive investigation into the Oklahoma City bombing. Wilburn stated, "The many witnesses in Kansas, Northern Oklahoma and in Oklahoma City who saw Timothy McVeigh driving the Ryder truck, and in the company of several individuals, have not been allowed to give their testimony yet. The reason we believe that the ATF offices were conspicuously absent that morning of the bombing, is because there was a federal sting operation being conducted the night before of which the ATF lost control. We believe an open and complete investigation of the crime should be brought before the Grand Jury in addition to the other troubling questions involving this case." Key, Wilburn and others have developed evidence that points to not only an apparent attempt to cover up the identity of the other perpetrators of the crime, but also information that would indicate that federal law enforcement agencies had knowledge that an attempt to bomb the Murrah Building was impending. Various observers believe the federal government may have been involved in a sting operation gone bad similar to the World Trade Center bombing in New York, as reported in 1993 in the New York Times (copy available upon request).

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Charles Key was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives District 90 in 1986. He represents the western legislative district where he was raised. He served as Republican Minority Whip from 1988-1990 and currently serves on Criminal Justice Committee, Judiciary Committee, Education Committee, and has formerly served on the Banking and Finance Committee. Additional information is available upon request.

by Oklahoma State Rep. Charles Key