Chris Tritico had a very difficult task: defend the man behind one of the worst terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. In Oxygen’s new true crime series, In Defense Of, Tritico details his decision to represent Timothy McVeigh in the 1997 Oklahoma City Bombing case – the attack that killed 168 people and injured more than 600.
“When Chris came home and said he had this opportunity to represent Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma bombing, that was hard for me to come to grips with,” Tritico’s wife Debbie says in Us Weekly’s exclusive sneak peek of the Monday, June 25, premiere. “My husband would be representing a man who did something so horrific to so many families in Oklahoma. But somebody has to represent him.”
She wasn’t the only one who was nervous. “There were 25 innocent children in that building that were killed, and that fact eats me up. Especially since I have three young children of my own,” Chris says. “I don’t know what I would do if that happens to my kids but I can’t let any of that stop me from what I have to do. This is the job I signed up for. We can’t ever have, in our country, a time where we say ‘I hate you so much that we’re not gonna give you those protections.’ The day we say that is the beginning of the end of our republic.”
The McVeigh case is only one that the new true crime series will explore. The show will also speak with the top defense lawyers on the infamous cases of Jodi Arias, Branch Davidians member Clive Doyle and Ted Bundy. Each attorney will share their personal and at times controversial experiences on the events
In Defense Of premieres on Oxygen Monday, June 25, at 9 p.m. ET.
