At 7:14 a.m. C.D.T. Monday morning, Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection in the first federal execution since 1963.

Outside the prison...
For the hundreds of people who gathered outside the prison in the wee hours of the morning, both protestors and supporters alike, there was only one shared moment of silence.

At 4:12 a.m., 200 people who opposed the death penalty silently read the names of the 168 victims of the Oklahoma City blast and then proceeded to recite “The Lord’s Prayer.” While those who supported the death penalty observed this brief vigil, the moment of reverence was broken when a woman in the crowd screamed, “Die McVeigh!”

Inside the execution chamber...
Just a few hours later, McVeigh chose his last words to come in the form a a written statement instead of a personal message of repentance. Invoking the words of poet William Ernest Henley, McVeigh declared, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”

After the execution Timothy McVeigh's lawyer, Robert Nigh said, "I am sorry I could not successfully help Tim express words of reconciliation that he did not feel were dishonest."

What will you remember?
Whether or not this execution has brought closure to this tragic chapter in American history is up to you to debate on the Sound Off board, but it is also important to note that there was one common request among many of the victims’ family members on Monday: remember the 168 innocent lives that were lost – not McVeigh.

Here are some questions to consider…

Are you surprised that McVeigh was not remorseful before he died? Since the execution, have you experienced a sense of closure about the Oklahoma City bombing? Have your thoughts on federal execution changed at all since the McVeigh case began?