Nichols Convicted In State Murder Trial

Oklahoma Bombings Conspirator Could Face the Death Penalty

We all knew that it was coming, that Terry Nichols, 48, will be standing trial again for the killing of one hundred sixty people and one woman's fetus. It looks as if he will be eligible for the death penalty and will likely be executed, rather than continue on with his life sentence without the possibility of parole.

I do not understand the reasoning for this. Life without parole is a harsh enough sentence----jamming a needle in this man's arm and filling his veins with poison is both barbaric and inhuman and it brings to the fore, once again, the debate that continually swirls within and without the United States: Is capital punishment cruel and unusual punishment?

The answer is, quite simply, yes it is. In an article found on CNN's homepage in which it tells us about Nichols' possible fate, it is stated that there were others accountable for the bombing beside Nichols and Timothy McVeigh. It mentioned the possibility of "John Doe Number Two" as being involved, but then went on to state that he was simply an anonymous soldier and had nothing to do with the bombing.

Talks of conspiracies have caught fire and burned brightly from the day the bombing took place: That McVeigh and Nichols had many other conspirators, that Nichols was actually the mastermind and not McVeigh and that Timothy McVeigh had very little to do with the actual detonation of the mega-ton bomb. Such claims are baseless and ridiculous, but unfortunately, conspiracy theories are continually ebbing and flowing with regard to this crime and will likely remain an integral part of American folklore for many years to come.

Terry Nichols should not be executed, but he likely will be, given the amount of hatred and anger that still surrounds the bombing that occurred nearly ten years ago. Let him do life, as he has been doing. Enough people have died in this case already and it needs to stop.

Update

Fri Jun 11, 9:40 PM ET

MCALESTER, Okla. (Reuters) - An Oklahoma jury on Friday ended three days of deliberations deadlocked, denying prosecutors their request to execute Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, and leaving it up to a judge to sentence him to life in prison.

The jury deadlock is a major blow to Oklahoma County prosecutors who had lobbied hard to send Nichols to the state's death chamber. The trial, with an estimated price tag of over $4 million, was the most expensive in the state's history and the decision to push forward with the trial did not have much public support in the state.

Judge Steven Taylor will rule on Aug. 9 whether Nichols should receive a life sentence with the possibility of parole or life without the possibility of parole. Under Oklahoma law, the judge cannot issue a death sentence if a jury deadlocks in the punishment phase.

The same Oklahoma jury deliberated for about five hours when it convicted Nichols on May 26 on 161 murder counts for his role in the deadly 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City. The state trial lasted for about two months and jurors heard from about 250 witnesses before convicting Nichols of murder.

The 161 murders included the 160 people other than federal agents who died in the April 19, 1995, blast along with a fetus whose mother was one of the victims.

Nichols, 49, was also convicted in a 1997 federal trial of manslaughter and conspiracy in the death of eight federal agents killed in the bombing. He was given a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for his federal conviction.

Federal and state officials will negotiate with each other to see which sentence will take precedence.

About 70 percent of respondents in a statewide poll by the daily Tulsa World conducted before the Oklahoma trial said they did not support Oklahoma County putting Nichols on trial again because of the high cost of trying the bombing conspirator, who was already going to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Nichols' former Army buddy and co-conspirator Timothy McVeigh (news - web sites) was put to death in 2001 for triggering the home-made truck bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City.

Prosecutors said he and McVeigh hated the government and blew up the federal building to avenge the Branch Davidians who died when the FBI (news - web sites) raided their religious compound near Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993. The Oklahoma City bombing took place two years to the day after the raid on the Davidian compound.

Nichols did not testify in the case.

His defense characterized him as a gentle child, a family man and a man who had found God behind prison bars.

All this happened on the third anniversary of Tim's death.

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