On this day, Aug. 14, in 1997, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was formally sentenced to death for the 1995 blast that killed 168 people.

McVeigh, a 29-year-old militia movement sympathizer, was unrepentant and quoted a 1928 ruling from Supreme Court Judge Louis Brandeis.

"Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example," McVeigh said.

During the trial, the decorated Gulf War Army tank gunner remained emotionless during heart-rending testimony about the lives lost when a massive diesel fuel and fertilizer bomb ripped off the front of the nine-story federal building.

It was the deadliest act of terrorism in the United States before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

McVeigh was executed June 11, 2001, in Indiana.

-- Scott McCabe