June 2, 1997 Today's guilty verdicts in the Oklahoma City bombing trial of Timothy McVeigh came as no surprise to Margie Paris, University of Oregon law professor and former defense attorney. Paris says juries in high profile cases like McVeigh's feel an enormous amount of pressure to convict. "During the trial they have to look at the victims' families every day and the inclination is to convict if jurors are at all persuaded by the evidence," Paris says. Both the prosecution and defense did an excellent job of presenting their cases, according to Paris. "The big task for the defense now will be to save McVeigh's life when the case enters the penalty phase." Paris says it will be up to the defense to convince the jury that there were mitigating factors involved in McVeigh's actions, or that there are enough positive aspects of his character to warrant a death penalty reprieve. SOURCE: Margie Paris, assistant professor, UO School of Law, (541) 346-3880 (office); (541) 484-0763 (home); e-mail: mparis@law.uoregon.edu -30- #T-4097/Day