Nichols may face death penalty for role in Oklahoma bombing

A STATE jury took just five hours to find Terry Nichols guilty of 161 counts of murder for the bombing that destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building — charges for which he could be sentenced to death.

A juror wiped tears from her eyes as the verdicts were read by Judge Steven Taylor and several others appeared to have been crying. Prosecutors beamed as survivors and victims’ relatives hugged and congratulated them.

“After nine years, the families who lost loved ones finally have justice,” said a tearful Diane Leonard, whose husband, Secret Service agent Donald R. Leonard, died in the bombing.

Nichols, who sat stone-faced in court, was also convicted of first-degree arson and conspiracy to commit arson in the bombing. The terrorist attack, which killed 168 people, was then the deadliest on American soil.

Jurors will now decide whether Nichols is sentenced to death by lethal injection or life in prison. The penalty phase is expected to begin Tuesday and last about three weeks.

“It will be another trial in and of itself,” Taylor told jurors before he sent them home for the Memorial Day weekend.

Prosecutors will question dozens of bombing survivors and members of victims’ families about the impact the bombing had on their lives. Nichols’ relatives are expected to plead for his life. Nichols, who did not testify in his own defence, could still testify during the penalty phase.

Nichols, aged 49, was acquitted of federal murder charges in 1997 but convicted of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter charges in the deaths of eight federal law enforcement officers in the bombing. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Oklahoma prosecutors charged Nichols in 1999 with the deaths of the 160 other victims and one victim’s foetus.

Bombing survivors and victims’ family members said the guilty verdicts vindicated state prosecutors who claimed Nichols shared equal responsibility with McVeigh for the bombing. “He’s responsible for everything. We’ll take care of him one way or another,” said Doris Delman, who lost her daughter, Terry Rees, in the bombing.

Prosecutors argued Nichols worked hand in hand with executed bomber Timothy McVeigh to get the ingredients and build the fuel-and-fertiliser bomb in a plot to avenge the government siege in Waco, Texas, that left about 80 people dead exactly two years earlier.

McVeigh was executed in June, 2001, and until now was the only person convicted of murder in the bombing.

Prosecutors brought a mountain of circumstantial evidence during a two-month trial that included testimony from 260 witnesses. They said Nichols bought the explosive ammonium nitrate fertilizer used in the bombing and stole detonation cord, blasting caps and other explosives.

The defence contended others helped McVeigh carry out the bombing and Nichols was the fall guy for a wider conspiracy.

Witnesses testified they saw McVeigh with others, including a stocky, dark-haired man depicted in an FBI sketch and known only as John Doe No. 2, in the weeks before the bombing. Authorities later concluded the mystery man was an Army private who had nothing to do with the bombing.

“This is a case about manipulation, betrayal and overreaching,” defence attorney Barbara Bergman said in closing arguments. “People who are still unknown assisted Timothy McVeigh.” The defence declined comment after the verdict, citing a gag order.

“As much as I am chomping at the bit, I am keeping my mouth shut,” said prosecutor Wes Lane.

Prosecutors say McVeigh and Nichols began acquiring the key ingredients for the bomb seven months before the blast, then met at a park near Junction City, Kansas, to pack it inside a Ryder truck on April 18, 1995. Nichols was at his home in Kansas 200 miles away when the bomb went off. Defence lawyers had planned to bring up evidence that a shadowy group of conspirators, including members a white supremacist gang, helped McVeigh with the bombing. But Taylor refused to allow that evidence, saying the defence never showed that such people made any overt acts to further the bomb plot.

A total of 151 witnesses took the stand for the prosecution over 29 days of testimony that included gruesome and tearful descriptions of the bombing.

The state’s star witness was Michael Fortier, who is serving a 12-year sentence for knowing about the plot and not telling authorities.

Fortier, a close friend of McVeigh’s, said McVeigh told him Nichols was deeply involved in the bomb plot and Nichols helped gather components, including the fertiliser that was mixed with high-octane fuel in the homemade bomb.

A receipt for the purchase of 2,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer was discovered in Nichols’ home by FBI agents three days after the bombing.

Fortier said McVeigh and Nichols also burgled a Kansas rock quarry near Nichols’ home in Herington, Kansas, and stole the detonation cord and blasting caps. In addition, prosecutors alleged that Nichols robbed a gun collector to finance the bomb plot.

There were no witnesses who identified Nichols as the man who bought fertilizer, stole the explosives or committed the robbery. Prosecutors linked Nichols to the explosives theft through forensic evidence from a broken padlock and said gold coins and weapons from the gun collector were found at his home.