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OKLAHOMA CITY (May 13) - Terry Nichols, the Oklahoma City bombing conspirator who is serving life without parole in federal prison, must stand trial in state court on 160 counts of first-degree murder that could bring the death penalty, a judge ruled Tuesday.
The decision by District Judge Allen McCall essentially means Nichols will be tried again for the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building that killed 168 people and injured hundreds of others.
Nichols, 48, will be arraigned May 27 and prosecutors said they hope to pick a jury this year. Jannie Coverdale, whose two grandsons died in the blast, said she wants Nichols tried as soon as possible.
``It's been a long time. And finally, somebody's going to be tried for killing 160 people,'' Coverdale said.
Bombing mastermind Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder after a federal trial and he was executed in June 2001.
The bespectacled Nichols, McVeigh's Army buddy, was convicted in 1997 of federal conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter charges. The jury deadlocked over whether to give him the death penalty for conspiracy, so the sentence fell to the judge who under law could impose no more than life without parole.
The federal manslaughter charges were for eight law enforcement officers killed in the blast. The state charges cover all other bombing victims, and the U.S. Supreme Court has already turned down an appeal from Nichols arguing that a state trial amounts to double jeopardy.
Diane Leonard, who lost her husband in the bombing, said the names of 160 victims were not listed in the government's indictments years ago.
``That sent a message to the other 160 families that their loved ones didn't matter,'' she said. ``Today, they know they do.''
Prosecutors say a state conviction is needed to guard against the chance Nichols might someday successfully appeal his federal conviction and gain freedom. They have said they will seek the death penalty.
The seven-day preliminary hearing covered some of the same ground as the government's case against McVeigh and Nichols. The evidence included statements Nichols made to the FBI and a receipt for a ton of ammonium nitrate fertilizer prosecutors say he bought under a false name.
Prosecutors contend the bombing was a twisted form of revenge against the government for the deadly siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, exactly two years earlier. They said Nichols and McVeigh prepared the 4,000-pound fuel-and-fertilizer bomb together and that Nichols participated in a series of robberies to raise money for the plot.
Nichols home in Herington, Kan., the day of the explosion, but prosecutors say he helped McVeigh pack the bomb inside the Ryder truck a day earlier and helped stash his friend's getaway car.
The prosecution's star witness, Michael Fortier, took the stand again to describe how McVeigh and Nichols detonated explosives in the Arizona desert and experimented with ingredients that were later used in the bombing.
McVeigh claimed Nichols was deeply involved, according to Fortier, who is serving a 12-year sentence for failing to notify authorities of the plot.
Nichols also called then-Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker's office two days before the bombing to complain about the Branch Davidian siege, according to an aide to the former Kansas lawmaker.
Nichols' former wife, Lana Padilla, testified that several months before the bombing he had amassed thousands of dollars in cash and supplies at a time she thought he was broke.
Nichols served in the Army with McVeigh at Fort Riley, Kan., and left in 1989 on a hardship discharge. He renounced his right to vote in 1992, and went on to work as a ranch hand and dealer in military surplus goods.
During his initial interrogation by police, Nichols said he and McVeigh learned how to make bombs while they were selling those goods at gun shows around the country in 1994 and 1995.
Nichols at one point claimed he did not call authorities about the bomb plot because he didn't think McVeigh was serious and believed he couldn't carry out the attack without help.
Legal analysts say a state trial may be hampered by some of the same legal issues that delayed the start of the preliminary hearing for more than three years. For one thing, prosecutors must overcome defense claims that no jury in Oklahoma will give Nichols a fair trial.
Any trial could also be complicated by revelations, first reported by The Associated Press, that the Justice Department received a letter before McVeigh's execution suggesting a key prosecution witness had given false testimony.
Some members of victims' families questioned the cost of trying Nichols when Oklahoma is facing a $678 million budget shortfall. About $2.5 million has already been spent on Nichols' defense.
``We have teachers being laid off right and left. Our health care system is in shambles. And we're going to try someone who's going to spend the rest of his life in prison,'' said Jim Denny, whose two children were injured in the bombing.
But Paul Howell, whose daughter was killed in the bombing, said he was delighted with the judge's decision: ``It's something that needs to be done.''
05/13/03 22:33 EDT