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Jolie Rouge
05-26-2004, 03:29 PM
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MCALESTER, Okla. (Reuters) - Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols was found guilty on Wednesday of all 161 counts of murder for his part in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building.

The jury in the Oklahoma state district court must now decide whether Nichols, 49, will receive the death penalty or life in prison. He is already is serving a life sentence for a conviction in federal court in the deaths of eight federal officials in the blast.

The verdict was delivered about five hours after the six men and six women on the jury began deliberations in the two month-long trial. Prosecutors said Nichols was more responsible for the blast than the actual bomber, Timothy McVeigh, who was executed in 2001 for driving a truck containing a fertilizer and fuel bomb to the front door of the building and detonating it.

The defense team argued Nichols, was a patsy for McVeigh and a wider conspiracy behind the bombing that killed 168 people. Closing arguments ended late Tuesday and Judge Steven Taylor turned the case over to the jury. About 250 witnesses testified.

A total of 168 people died in the bombing. The 161 first-degree murder counts against Nichols represent 160 people killed in the blast who were not federal agents and the fetus of a pregnant woman who died in the explosion.

Prosecutors said Nichols and McVeigh were retaliating against the U.S. government for the federal raid on the compound of the Branch Davidian religious sect, near Waco, Texas, in which about 80 people died, two years to the day before the Oklahoma City bombing.

Nichols was at home in Kansas at the time of the blast.



05/26/04 16:34

Jolie Rouge
06-12-2004, 09:31 PM
Terry Nichols Again Spared Death Penalty
By TIM TALLEY

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McALESTER, Okla. (AP) - Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols may have been spared the death penalty for a second time because a jailhouse conversion to Christianity gained him sympathy from the jury, lawyers in the case said Saturday.

The state prosecution, staged in an attempt to secure the death penalty at a cost expected to soar to $10 million, ended with the same sentence Nichols received in federal court six years ago: life.

Juror Daniel Cochran said as many as eight of the 12 jurors agreed to impose a death sentence, but declined to disclose further details of their deliberations. ``We all agreed that what went on in the jury room would stay in the jury room,'' he said.


But lawyers for both the prosecution and defense agreed jurors were influenced by Nichols' religious conversion. Nichols was also portrayed as susceptible to manipulation by Timothy McVeigh, the bombing's mastermind.


During the sentencing portion of his trial, defense witnesses testified that Nichols had worn out four Bibles through prayer and research, and that he wrote an 83-page letter to a prayer partner in Michigan while trying to make a point about Christian faith. ``Terry Nichols' belief in God is so firm that he believes if the rapture occurred today he is going to heaven,'' defense attorney Creekmore Wallace told jurors.


After convicting him of 161 counts of murder in just 5 hours, the jury wrestled with his punishment for 19 1/2 hours before concluding they could not agree on a penalty. The deadlock means that Nichols will automatically be sentenced to life in prison for the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.


He received the same sentence on federal convictions for the deaths of eight federal law enforcement officers in 1998. That jury deadlocked after 13 1/2 hours of deliberation. The state charges are for the other 160 victims and one victims' fetus.


District Attorney Wes Lane, who pursued murder charges filed by his predecessor, Bob Macy, said the prosecution was about seeking justice for the other victims, not securing the death penalty. ``Justice was getting their day in court,'' he said.


But in announcing the state charges, Macy had said he was not satisfied with the outcome of the federal trial. ``Clearly the reason they brought this action in Oklahoma was to kill Terry,'' defense attorney Brian Hermanson said. ``They spend a huge amount of money. They caused a huge amount of heartache for a lot of people. And basically we reached the same result as the federal case.''


Lane said he believes Nichols was spared because of ``sympathy issues'' among some jurors, including for his religious conversion - one that prosecutors said conveniently began about the time state murder charges were filed against him. ``I don't see Terry Nichols as being repentant necessarily,'' Lane said. ``I know that Mr. Nichols was not willing to accept responsibility.''


Wallace said Nichols' religious conversion is genuine, and that jurors may also have believed that Nichols was used by McVeigh, who was executed on federal murder charges on June 11, 2001. ``Every person in his life who has had any kind of agenda has been able to manipulate the man,'' Wallace said. He said Nichols has no social skills and may suffer from a mild form of autism.


Polls conducted before the start of Nichols' trial showed that most Oklahomans opposed bringing Nichols to trial again because he was already serving life in prison. A poll conducted by the Tulsa World in January found 70 percent of Oklahomans opposed the expense of a state trial. Only 25 percent were in favor, according to the Oklahoma Poll. Nichols' defense team alone has been paid almost $4 million. That figure that does not include the cost of prosecution or of transporting and housing prosecution witnesses during Nichols' trial.


Bud Welch, a death-penalty opponent whose daughter, July Marie Welch, died in the bombing, said even some families who were angry that Nichols didn't get a death sentence in his federal trial opposed the state charges.


``It just made sense the jury would not go for the death penalty,'' said Welch, who read a victim impact statement during the penalty phase. ``I think some of the jurors felt that it's been nine years, he's been in prison.''


Hermanson said Nichols' jury had renewed his faith in Oklahoma's criminal justice system. ``I am so proud of those jurors that voted their heart and listened to the evidence in holding out for life,'' Hermanson said. ``There was not a valid reason for killing him other than the seeking of vengeance. There's no place for vengeance in the courtroom.''



06/12/04 16:13

buttrfli
06-13-2004, 04:49 PM
I can't believe I am going to have to pay for this mans housing, food, water, cable etc. At least McVeigh was smart - plead guilty and hurry up and carry out the death penalty.

suprtruckr
06-13-2004, 05:21 PM
I can't believe I am going to have to pay for this mans housing, food, water, cable etc. At least McVeigh was smart - plead guilty and hurry up and carry out the death penalty.
they should put him on bread and water and hard labor for the rest of his life, and give him NO luxuries

buttrfli
06-13-2004, 06:41 PM
they should put him on bread and water and hard labor for the rest of his life, and give him NO luxuries

One could only hope. Unfortunately, he will have more luxuries than I do and I have to pay for his. Has anyone seen the food these people are served?? There are times that I only wish we ate so well.

Jolie Rouge
08-09-2004, 09:02 PM
Nichols Gets Life Sentence for Bombing
By TIM TALLEY

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McALESTER, Okla. (AP) - Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, addressing a court for the first time, proclaimed his faith in God and asked victims of the blast for forgiveness Monday as a judge sentenced him to 161 consecutive life sentences.

``Words cannot adequately express the sorrow I have had over the years for the grief that so many have endured and continue to suffer,'' Nichols said from the witness stand. ``I am truly sorry for what occurred.''

District Judge Steven Taylor gave Nichols life without parole on each of 161 counts of first-degree murder.

Nichols had already been sentenced to life without parole in 1998 on federal charges for the deaths of eight law enforcement officers killed in the April 19, 1995 bombing. He was spared the death penalty in both trials when jurors could not agree on a sentence.


Nichols, 49, never testified during his trials and said nothing after he was convicted in federal court. In a lengthy statement Monday laced with religious references, he asked for forgiveness, asked ``everyone to acknowledge God,'' and offered to correspond with survivors from jail to ``assist in their healing process.'' He said God had worked through the jurors to spare him the death penalty. "His hand has been guiding this trial from day one. There is no other explanation,'' Nichols said. ``And it was God who, through the holy spirit, worked in the hearts of those jurors who refused to vote for death.''


Many victims' relatives said they felt Nichols' statement was genuine, but others criticized the tone of his remarks. ``I didn't appreciate being preached to by him,'' said Darlene Welch, whose niece was killed in the bombing. ``My regret is that he won't stand before God sooner.''


Marsha Kight, whose daughter, Frankie Merrill, was killed, said ``life in prison is good because people have time to think about what they did. It pleases me that he is taking time to apologize for his actions. I am glad that he is taking responsibility for what he did,'' Kight said by telephone from Florida.


Responding to his statement, the judge called Nichols a ``terrorist'' and the ``No. 1 mass murderer in all of U.S. history.'' ``Your criminal acts in this case are historic in proportion,'' the judge said. ``What could motivate you to do this? There are no answers.''


Taylor said if he could legally order it, he would require Nichols to place photographs of all 161 victims on the walls of his prison cell. ``The shadow and cloud of that day will hover over that prison cell,'' the judge said.


Bomber Timothy McVeigh was convicted of federal conspiracy and murder charges and executed on June 11, 2001. ``My views were not the same as Timothy McVeigh,'' Nichols said. ``We may have had some similarities, but they were not the same. And today, my views and beliefs are far different, as the result of finding the real truth of life in this world,'' he said.


Nichols also was sentenced to 10 years and a $5,000 fine for a conspiracy count, and 35 years and a $25,000 fine for first-degree arson. He was ordered to pay $5 million in restitution and $10,000 per count to a victims compensation fund, as well as legal fees.


The prosecution sought the maximum fine even though Nichols will be unable to pay.

Nichols was convicted on federal involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy charges for the deaths of eight federal law enforcement officers who were among the 168 victims killed during the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.


The state charges were for the other 160 victims and one victim's fetus. Jurors could not consider a death sentence on the count involving the fetus and sentenced Nichols to life without the possibility of parole for that count.


Taylor had the choice of sentencing Nichols to life with or without the possibility of parole on the remaining charges.


Nichols has 10 days to appeal his conviction and sentence. His defense attorneys have urged him not to appeal, since gaining a new trial could result in another attempt to secure the death penalty.


The chief prosecutor, Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane, has said he expects Nichols to be returned to federal custody once the appeal deadline expires.



08/09/04 23:09

Jolie Rouge
11-28-2004, 08:34 PM
Paper: Nichols confessed to key role in bombing
Sunday, November 28, 2004 Posted: 7:35 PM EST (0035 GMT)


http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2004/LAW/11/28/crime.nichols.reut/story.nichols.fri.jpg
Terry Nichols, left, has received two life sentences for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.


OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) -- Convicted conspirator Terry Nichols admitted to prosecutors he played a key role in gathering and assembling the components of the bomb that destroyed an Oklahoma City federal building, killing 168, the Daily Oklahoman reported Sunday.

The paper said it obtained a statement from Nichols made with state prosecutors during a secret 2003 plea agreement meeting. In the statement, Nichols said he helped bombing triggerman Timothy McVeigh obtain the components of the bomb that ripped through the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in 1995.

Nichols confessed to helping McVeigh assemble a fertilizer and fuel bomb in a truck that McVeigh would then drive to Oklahoma City. He told prosecutors McVeigh did the planning and was involved in all aspects of the bombing, including carrying out the deadly mission, the paper said.

"I was involved in the gathering and storing of the components of the bomb, the testing of some of the components, going to Oklahoma City on Easter Sunday to pick up McVeigh, and the actual making of the bomb," Nichols reportedly told prosecutors.

Nichols has not spoken publicly about his role in the bombing.

Nichols told prosecutors he even provided a last-minute fix when the pair ran out of one of the bomb's components while packing barrels by a lake.

"Prior to finishing, it was obvious that there would not be enough nitromethane, so diesel fuel was siphoned out of my truck and used to finish the barrels," Nichols said, according to the paper.

Nichols, 49, is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole based on a 1997 conviction in federal court in the deaths of eight federal officials in the blast.

Earlier this year, Nichols was convicted of murder by an Oklahoma court, where prosecutors charged him for the other people killed in the blast. He received a life sentence after the jury that convicted him deadlocked on the decision of whether to execute him. He was then handed back to federal prison authorities.

Attorneys who represented Nichols in this trial were not immediately available for comment.

McVeigh was executed in 2001 for driving the truck to the front door of the federal building and setting off the deadly blast.


www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/11/28/crime.nichols.reut/index.html

Jolie Rouge
04-01-2005, 02:40 PM
FBI Search Former Home of Terry Nichols

HERINGTON, Kan. (AP) - FBI agents Thursday searched a home where Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols used to live after receiving a report that there were explosives inside.

If explosives are found, FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said, agents will investigate whether they are connected to Nichols, who has not lived in the home near downtown Herington for years.

Residents in nine homes near the house were evacuated during the search, which continued late Thursday.

Nichols was living in the home at the time of the April 19, 1995, bombing, which killed 168 people.

Georgia Rucker, a Herington real estate agent, has owned the home since 1997 and rented it out several times. She said Thursday that the last tenant was evicted in October and she had been preparing the home for sale in recent weeks.


Rucker said she was contacted by two FBI agents Thursday and gave permission for federal authorities to search the premises. She said she was told that authorities had information that explosive material was in a crawl space of the house, which has a half-basement.


She said she had noticed a small door to the crawl space was ajar in recent days but wasn't concerned because someone had been working on the furnace system.


Nichols is serving life prison sentences on federal and state convictions for the bombing. Bombing mastermind Timothy McVeigh was executed in 2001.



04/01/05 04:12

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Jolie Rouge
04-01-2005, 02:43 PM
FBI Finds Explosives in Nichols' Old Home
17 minutes ago
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Pursuing a tip that they missed evidence a decade ago, FBI agents searched the former home of convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols and found blasting caps and other explosive materials apparently related to the 1995 attack, officials said Friday.

FBI officials said the material was found buried in a crawl space of the Herington, Kan., home that apparently wasn't checked by agents during the numerous searches of the property during the original investigation of Nichols and Timothy McVeigh. "The information so far indicates the items have been there since prior to the Oklahoma City bombing," Agent Gary Johnson said in a telephone interview from Oklahoma City.

Nichols, who is serving multiple life prison sentences on federal and state charges, hasn't lived at the property for years, and FBI officials said the tipster provided information that Nichols had buried the evidence.

One of Nichols' attorneys said Friday the discovery was either a hoax or a major failure by the FBI to find all evidence after searching the home numerous times. "They were there often," said attorney Brian Hermanson, who represented Nichols in last year's Oklahoma state murder trial that ended with Nichols' conviction. "It's surprising. I would think they would have done their job and found everything that was there."

"But I'm still suspicious that it could be something planted there. The house was empty for several years and if somebody wanted to put something there to incriminate Terry they had plenty of time to have done it," Hermanson said.

Johnson said the FBI was still searching the property and trying to determine whether the explosive materials might be connected to the bombing.

He said FBI officials received recent information that led to the search but that the source and origins of the information were still being investigated.

FBI agents went to the property Thursday night and then summoned a bomb squad after finding the potentially dangerous materials, spokesman Jeff Lanza said in Kansas.

Lanza said the material was buried in a crawl space under about a foot of rock, dirt and gravel and the area hadn't been searched during the original investigation. "Depending on the situation, that's something that may not necessarily be searched, especially given the fact that there was no information there was anything in there, and even if you searched the crawl space at that time and dug through the rock and rubble you wouldn't find anything until you went at least a foot down," he said.

Lanza said the tip indicated that "Nichols was responsible for hiding these devices" and "we are operating under the assumption that Terry Nichols put them there."

Nichols and McVeigh, who was put to death for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing, had used blasting caps, fertilizer and fuel to make the bomb that killed 168 people at the federal building in that city on April 19, 1995.

The search and discovery came less than three weeks from the 10th anniversary of the bombing, which was the deadliest terror attack in American history before Sept. 11, 2001.

Georgia Rucker has owned the home since 1997 and rented it several times. She said Thursday the last tenant was evicted in October and she had been preparing the home for sale.

Rucker said she was contacted by two FBI agents Thursday and gave permission for authorities to search the premises. She said she was told they had information that explosive material was in a crawl space of the house, which has a half-basement.

She said she had noticed a small door to the crawl space was ajar in recent days but wasn't concerned because someone had been working on the furnace system.

Last year, the FBI ordered a review of some aspects of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing investigation after a series of Associated Press stories identified evidence that the lead investigator in the case said had never been shown to his team.

The evidence raised questions about whether a group of white supremacist bank robbers might have had some connection to the attack.


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=4&u=/ap/20050401/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/nichols_house_search&sid=84439559

Jolie Rouge
04-14-2005, 06:00 PM
FBI Waited to Check Out Tip on Nichols
By MARK SHERMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI initially dismissed a tip that convicted bomber Terry Nichols had hidden explosives and they might be used for an attack this month coinciding with the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.

While the FBI has found no evidence supporting the idea that an attack is in the works for the April 19 tenth anniversary, the information that explosives had been hidden in Nichols' former home in Herington, Kan., turned out to be true.

The tip came from imprisoned mobster Gregory Scarpa Jr., 53, a law enforcement official said this week. Scarpa is an inmate in the same maximum-security federal prison in Florence, Colo., where Nichols is serving life sentences for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred Murrah federal building that killed 168 people. Timothy McVeigh was convicted of federal conspiracy and murder charges in the bombing and executed in 2001.

Scarpa learned about the explosives from Nichols, mainly through notes passed between them, said Stephen Dresch, a Michigan man who is Scarpa's informal advocate.


Dresch gave the information to the FBI in early March. But FBI agents did not search the vacant house until March 31. The bureau did not act more quickly because Scarpa failed a lie detector test, said the law enforcement official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the investigation.


The FBI lab continues to examine the materials for fingerprints and other clues that might show where the explosives originated and who may have had them before they got into Nichols' home.


Scarpa, a member of the Colombo organized crime family serving 50-plus years on drug trafficking, conspiracy and racketeering convictions, first communicated information about the explosives on March 1, then provided more details on March 10 and 11, Dresch said in letters sent to the staffs of two members of Congress and to the FBI's Detroit office. Scarpa revealed the location of the house on March 11, Dresch said.


The first letter said Scarpa learned from another prisoner, assumed by Dresch to be Nichols, ``the location of a bomb on U.S. soil.'' The second described two rock piles in the crawl space beneath Nichols' former home. Under one, it said, were cardboard boxes wrapped in plastic. Those details match what the FBI said it found.


Aides to Reps. William Delahunt, D-Mass., and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., acknowledged receiving the letters by fax. Delahunt's office received the letter on March 1 or 2 and forwarded it to the FBI, said Steve Schwadron, the lawmaker's chief of staff. The letter to Rohrabacher was not read until after the FBI search had been done, Rohrabacher spokeswoman Rebecca Rudman said.


The FBI refused to comment on the delay.


The bureau has faced harsh post-Sept. 11, 2001, criticism accusing it of failing to adequately investigate tips and intelligence.


Delahunt has chided the FBI for its dealings with informants, while Rohrabacher is considering requesting a hearing on the bureau's handling of the Oklahoma City investigation. ``I'm more concerned that the FBI didn't do a thorough job investigating this location 10 years ago than I am about how long it took to follow through on an informant's tip,'' Rohrabacher said.


Dresch, a Michigan economist, principal owner of Forensic Intelligence International and former state lawmaker, speculated that the FBI didn't act more quickly because Scarpa has a long, contentious history with federal authorities.


Valerie Caproni, now the FBI general counsel, was a prosecutor in Scarpa's 1998 trial in Brooklyn, N.Y. At the time, Scarpa testified he spied for the FBI on four suspects in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, including convicted mastermind Ramzi Yousef, while they were jailed together in Manhattan.


Scarpa said he passed on to the FBI plans that said associates of the four men would kill a prosecutor in one of Yousef's trials and attack a federal judge he declined to name as well as unspecified ``government installations.''


Caproni and U.S. District Judge Reena Raggi scoffed at Scarpa's claims, which the judge called insignificant at best and more likely ``part of a scam.''


Freelance journalist Peter Lance has argued in his recent book, ``Cover Up,'' that Scarpa's information was accurate and included tips that could have led the FBI to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Yousef's uncle, long before the Sept. 11 attacks Mohammed purportedly helped plan.


Lance has obtained transcripts of Scarpa's interviews with FBI agents in which he provided details of his dealings with Yousef.


Scarpa's father, the late Gregory Scarpa, was an FBI informant whom senior officials allowed to keep working with the bureau in the 1990s even though they suspected him of murder, according to Lindley DeVecchio, Scarpa's FBI handler.


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04/14/05 19:59