DENVER, June 15: Timothy Mcveigh's jurors said convicting him of mass murder was more difficult than sentencing him to death for the Oklahoma city bombing.

``I can live with myself,'' Doug Carr said. ``I can sleep at night.''

Eleven of the 12 jurors told a news conference Saturday that the prosecution overwhelmed them with evidence that when pieced together left no doubt that Mcveigh bombed the federal building on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people.

Foreman Jim Osgood said no one piece of evidence persuaded them, ``it was the entire package. We didn't look at one piece of evidence. We didn't look at one witness'', said Osgood.

``It took us a good hour, hour and a half for us to calm down so we could go into the courtroom,'' Ruth Meier said.

The jurors said Mcveigh often made eye contact with them, but they were disturbed that he never showed any emotion in the highly charged trial.

``It was hard for me to sit there and look at him,'' said John Candelaria.

Several jurors said they would have wanted Mcveigh to testify, even though it probably would not have made any difference.

``I would have loved to have heard from him,'' said Meier. ``I would have loved to have known when in his life he changed.''

Jurors said they were not impressed with the defense suggestion in the penalty phase that more violence could follow if Mcveigh were executed.``We were judging Tim Mcveigh, '' said Mike Leeper. ``We weren't judging the future.''

They also said they gave little concern to the possibility of unknown accomplices.

``I didn't think that's for us to answer,'' said Leeper.

Fred Clarke added: ``It doesn't matter to me.''

They all praised the stern manner of US district judge Richard Matsch and his control of the courtroom.

``He was the man,'' said Tonya Stedman.

The jury foreman also praised prosecutors and defense attorneys for their professionalism.

``I think we can all sleep better at night, knowing the system does work,'' Osgood said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.