Joseph Hartzler, who oversaw the prosecution of one of the most high-profile cases of the 20th century, has died at 75, according to his son.
Hartzler was tabbed to lead the prosecution following the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. At the time, he was a U.S. Attorney based in Springfield.
In his opening statement, he named children killed in the daycare center and linked Timothy McVeigh's motives to a white supremacist ideology. McVeigh was found guilty and later executed.
Hartzler was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the 1980s and used a wheelchair.
In later years, he served as a federal public defender. Funeral services are planned in Chicago.
The following is a tribute from son Matthew Hartzler:
Joseph Hartzler, who was the lead prosecutor in the 1997 Oklahoma City Bombing trial and an early symbol for disability representation, died on December 18, 2025, at the age of 75.
Attorney General Janet Reno chose Hartzler to lead the prosecution team following the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which claimed 168 lives and injured scores of others. The bombing was at the time the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. In an era of publicized and sensationalized trials, Hartzler chose to avoid the television talk-show circuit, refusing to help turn the tragedy into a media spectacle.
Hartzler’s modesty helped restore some dignity to the judicial process during his successful prosecution of Timothy McVeigh, providing a measure of justice to the victims and their families.
Hartzler’s role in the trial was also a watershed moment for disability visibility. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1988, Hartzler led the prosecution from a wheelchair. In an era when disability was often hidden, he navigated the federal courthouse in front of a sea of cameras, challenging national perceptions of capability in his motorized scooter. People Magazine named his named as one of the “25 Most Intriguing People of the Year” in 1997.
Hartzler had previously obtained a number of high-profile convictions in his role as an assistant United States attorney in Chicago in the 1980s, including convictions of those behind the FALN terrorism bombings in Chicago and a Cook County judge caught in the Operation Greylord corruption investigation. Later, Hartzler served as chief of the appellate division for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Springfield, Illinois. He later led anti-corruption hiring reforms as Special Counsel to Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and then became a federal public defender.
Hartzler was devoted to family and received the “Father of the Year” award from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in 1995, prior to his appointment as prosecutor of the Oklahoma City trial. He is survived by his wife Lisa, three sons and their partners, and six grandchildren. He was a visible presence on Springfield’s sports fields, where he spent years coaching his sons' baseball and flag-football teams from his scooter. He also served on his local school board for eight years and taught Sunday School for many years at St. John’s Lutheran Church, in Springfield.
Hartzler graduated from Amherst College in 1972. He was first in his law school class in 1978 at American University Washington College of Law, where he met his wife Lisa Harms, whom he married in 1981.
A service will be held on December 28, 2025, at 2:00 pm at the Wicker Park Lutheran Church in Chicago. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society or the Class of 1968 Scholarship Fund at Columbus Academy in Columbus, Ohio, the school to which Hartzler himself received a scholarship that changed the trajectory of his life.
