DENVER (CNN) -- Defense lawyers in the Oklahoma City bombing
trial of Timothy McVeigh launched their case Thursday by
trying to cast doubt on one of the prosecution's cornerstones
-- that McVeigh rented the bomb-carrying Ryder truck two days
before the Oklahoma City blast.
Herta King and Renda Truong testified they saw a Ryder truck
in the parking lot of the Dreamland Motel in Junction City,
Kansas, on Easter Sunday, April 16, 1995 -- three days before
the bombing.
McVeigh stayed in the motel under his own name in the week
leading up to the blast, and prosecutors contend he rented
the truck at a nearby body shop on Monday, April 17.
King, whose son was staying at the motel, said she's certain
she saw the truck on Easter Sunday because she brought an
Easter basket filled with chocolate eggs to her son.
"I could not see my son's car because the Ryder truck blocked
the view," she said.
Truong said she saw the truck that Sunday as she was going
to lunch with her family.
Conflicting testimony on truck
Both women testified that they did not see anyone in or
around the Ryder truck. They also gave conflicting accounts
on the size of the truck. King said it was not 20 feet long;
Truong said she believed it was a 20-foot truck.
The defense also called Leonard and Diana White of Cheney,
Kansas, who testified they saw a yellow Mercury with Arizona
plates -- believed to be McVeigh's car -- in the motel
parking lot on Easter Sunday morning.
The Whites both testified that they never saw a Ryder truck
in the Dreamland parking lot.
Eric McGown, the co-manager of the motel, testified during
the prosecution's case that he saw McVeigh in a Ryder truck
but was unsure whether it was the Sunday or Monday before the
bombing.
McGown's mother, Lea, who also worked at the motel, was
expected to testify later Thursday that she saw McVeigh in
the truck on Sunday.
Prosecutors say McVeigh signed a dated agreement for the
truck using the alias Robert Kling. They say he packed it
with a fuel-and-fertilizer bomb and detonated it outside the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, killing
168 people.
The prosecution wrapped up its case Wednesday after calling
137 witnesses in 18 days.
The defense's first witness, Oklahoma architect Dan Harris,
told the court that he built a model of the motel for defense
attorney Stephen Jones.
The implications of his testimony were not immediately clear.
Harris is a longtime friend and neighbor of Jones and was
apparently being called as an expert witness.
Medical examiner: Stray leg found
Also Thursday, McVeigh's attorneys introduced testimony about
a stray leg found in the bombing rubble, appearing to imply
that the bomber died in the explosion.
Oklahoma State Medical Examiner Fred Jordan -- the
prosecution's last witness Wednesday -- was recalled by the
defense to testify about the leg.
Jordan said eight bodies were recovered from the federal
building missing a left leg, but nine left legs were found.
Eight of those legs were matched up with a victim, but the
ninth, about 16 inches long and weighing 18 pounds, remains
unidentified, Jordan said.
Jordan said he could not tell if it was a man's or woman's
leg, but based on the size of the bones, it would be a person
about 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 6 inches tall. The foot did
not have nail polish but the leg appeared to be shaven,
Jordan said.
The defense is expected to argue that the leg could have
belonged to someone involved in the bomb plot, perhaps "John
Doe No. 2" -- the name given to a sketch which was drawn
based on a description of a man one witness said was present
when the Ryder truck was rented.
Last survivor pulled from wreckage to testify
The defense is expected to call between 30 and 40 witnesses,
including Daina Bradley -- the last survivor pulled from the
bombing wreckage. Bradley lost her mother, sister and two
children in the bombing, and rescuers amputated one of her
legs to free her from the rubble.
Jones referred to Bradley in his opening statement. He told
the jury that she was inside the federal building before the
blast and saw a Ryder truck pull up outside.
According to Jones, she saw somebody get out of the passenger
side of the truck -- someone "short, stocky, olive-(skinned),
wearing a puffy jacket with black hair, a description that
does not match my client. She did not see anyone else."
Government sources say Bradley has given varying descriptions
about the man she saw outside the building.