Terry Nichols found guilty of murder

Fire up the chair boys......

Yeah baby!! Start looking for outlets!!!!

man, this took awhile to get done eh? When did this all happen? 1995? 1996?

I think most of us Oklahoman's are ready to pull the swith ourselves. This has been a long drawn out process.

Originally posted by Bufford 3.3

man, this took awhile to get done eh? When did this all happen? 1995? 1996?

1995

The reason this took so long was that the Feds only charged him with killing the Federal officers who were in the building, which was like only about 8 counts, the same as Timothy McVeigh, and all he got for that was life in prison.

The state of Oklahoma, on the other hand, charged him with 161 counts of murder for all the rest of the people in the building, including the 19 childern killed on the day care there, something the state didn't need to do with McVeigh.

Here are more details:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040526/D82QF7SO0.html

Nichols Convicted of State Murder Charges

May 26, 3:45 PM (ET)

By TIM TALLEY

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) - Nearly a decade after the Oklahoma City bombing, Terry Nichols was convicted of 161 state murder charges Wednesday for helping carry out what was then the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. He could get the death sentence he escaped when he was convicted in federal court in the 1990s.

The verdict came only five hours after the jury started deliberating.

Oklahoma prosecutors brought the case with the goal of finally winning a death sentence against Nichols, who is serving a life term on federal charges. The same 12-member jury will now determine Nichols' fate on the state charges: life in prison or death by injection.

Prosecutors contended Nichols worked hand in hand with former Army buddy Timothy McVeigh to acquire the ingredients and build the fuel-and-fertilizer bomb in a twisted plot to avenge the government siege in Waco, Texas, exactly two years earlier.

The April 19, 1995, blast at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building killed 168 people. 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 fertilizer used in the bombing and stole detonation cord, blasting caps and other explosives.

The defense contended that others helped McVeigh carry out the bombing and that Nichols was the fall guy for a wider conspiracy. Witnesses testified that 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 that the mystery man was actually an Army private who had nothing to do with the bombing.

"This is a case about manipulation, betrayal and overreaching," defense attorney Barbara Bergman said in closing arguments. "People who are still unknown assisted Timothy McVeigh."

Defense lawyers had planned on bringing up evidence that a shadowy group of conspirators, including members a white supremacist gang, helped McVeigh with the bombing. But Judge Steven Taylor refused to allow that evidence, saying the defense never showed that such people made any overt acts to further the bomb plot.

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, Kan., 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 trial was moved 130 miles from Oklahoma City to McAlester because of the difficulty in finding an impartial jury in the city where passions still run high over 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 fertilizer 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 burglarized a Kansas rock quarry near Nichols' home in Herington, Kan., 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 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.

Nichols was sentenced to life in prison in 1998 on federal involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy convictions for the deaths of eight federal law enforcement officials. Oklahoma prosecutors charged Nichols with the deaths of the 160 other victims and one victim's fetus.

Dozens of victims' family members and survivors of the bombing are expected to testify in the penalty phase, which is expected to last four to six weeks.

In other words, the State Of Oklahoma wasted millions of taxpayer dollars so they could bring the death penalty against someone who has already been covicted and was already going to rot away in prison for the rest of his life.

Wasn't Timothy McVeigh the mastermind in it? If so, why doesn't Oklahoma go after him?

Originally posted by Symbol

Wasn't Timothy McVeigh the mastermind in it? If so, why doesn't Oklahoma go after him?

As I said above, since the Federal goverment senteced him to death, the state of Oklahoma didn't really need to, since you have less appeals for a Federal death sentence

And also basicly since McVeigh has already been executed, it would be kinda hard for Oklahoma to go after him now anyways

As an Oklahoman now living in Virginia, I have to say it is ABOUT FREAKIN' TIME!

I was a couple of blocks away from the Murrah Building when it went down. My girlfriend at the time was a nursing student and she spent 2 days at the site trying to help. I know she would be first in line to throw the switch.

Originally posted by TC4

As I said above, since the Federal goverment senteced him to death, the state of Oklahoma didn't really need to, since you have less appeals for a Federal death sentence

And also basicly since McVeigh has already been executed, it would be kinda hard for Oklahoma to go after him now anyways

Ooops, see how much I follow non local news. In my defense however, at the time it happened was probably when I was finishing school, plus working to pay for it.

In my honest opinion, it was a waste of taxpayer money. He is going to die in a federal facility. Terry Nichols will never get the needle. The D.A. at the time made a promise to the people of Oklahoma City to get McVeigh and Nichols the death penalty, and the current D.A. kept that promise.

For the families that lost loved ones it is justice. Not a whole lot of us know what they went through and this process brought peace to their lives. At least now they have some closure and can move on with their lives.

Originally posted by SkinFaninOKC

In my honest opinion, it was a waste of taxpayer money. He is going to die in a federal facility. Terry Nichols will never get the needle. The D.A. at the time made a promise to the people of Oklahoma City to get McVeigh and Nichols the death penalty, and the current D.A. kept that promise.

For the families that lost loved ones it is justice. Not a whole lot of us know what they went through and this process brought peace to their lives. At least now they have some closure and can move on with their lives.

You don't think the Feds wont turn him over to the state of Oklahoma now that they have sentenced him to death?

Believe me, they will

Opps double post

Good, kill the ****. That's why I love the death penalty. Too bad they can't make the process quicker when it's such a clear-cut case.