Man convicted of 161 murders in Oklahoma bombing

Nearly a decade after the Oklahoma City bombing, a man was found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out what was then the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil.

Terry Nichols could get the death sentence he escaped when he was convicted in federal court in the 1990s.

The verdicts came after only five hours of deliberations. Nichols was stone-faced and stared straight ahead at the judge as the verdicts were read.

Prosecutors beamed, and family members hugged and congratulated them.

“I’m just so thrilled for these families,” said a tearful Diane Leonard, whose husband died in the bombing. “After nine years, the families who lost loved ones finally have justice.”

Nichols, 49, is already serving a federal life sentence for involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy in the deaths of eight federal law enforcement officials in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people.

In this state trial in McAlester, Oklahoma, he was convicted of 161 counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of the other victims plus one victim’s foetus.

The same 12-member jury will now determine Nichols’ fate on the state charges: life in prison or death by injection. The penalty phase will begin next Tuesday and is expected to last four to six weeks.

Prosecutors contended Nichols worked hand in hand with former Army buddy Timothy McVeigh to acquire the ingredients and build the fuel-and-fertiliser bomb in a twisted 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.

“These two were partners, and their business was terrorism,” prosecutor Lou Keel said during opening statements.

Prosecutors brought a mountain of circumstantial evidence during a two-month trial that included testimony from about 250 witnesses. They said Nichols bought the explosive ammonium nitrate fertiliser used in the bombing and stole detonation cord, blasting caps and other explosives.

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

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.

A total of 151 witnesses took the stand for the prosecution over 29 days of testimony that included several 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.

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.

But there were no witnesses who identified Nichols as the man who bought fertiliser, 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.