Editing Terry Nichols (section)

==Prosecutions==

=== Federal case ===
[[File:Florence ADMAX.jpg|thumb|[[ADX Florence|Florence ADMAX USP]], the supermax security prison where Nichols resides]]
McVeigh was tried before Nichols and sentenced to death.<ref name=bio/> Former army soldier and friend of Nichols, Michael Fortier, testified against both McVeigh and Nichols. Fortier had entered into a federal plea agreement for reduced charges in return for his agreement to testify. He was charged with failing to notify authorities in advance of the crime and sentenced to 12 years in prison.<ref name=fortier/> Fortier testified that Nichols and McVeigh had expressed anti-government feelings and conspired to blow up the Murrah federal building. He said he helped McVeigh survey the building before the attack. He also testified that Nichols had robbed an Arkansas gun dealer to finance the cost of the bombing. Fortier provided "solid bricks of evidence" for the cases against McVeigh and Nichols, according to the prosecutor.<ref name=fortier/>

Nichols' wife Marife testified as a defense witness, but her story may have helped the prosecution's case.<ref name=wapo_wife/> She said her husband had been living a double life prior to the bombing, using aliases, renting storage lockers and lying that he had broken off his relationship with McVeigh. She also testified that Nichols traveled to Oklahoma City three days before the bombing, supporting the prosecution's contention that Nichols helped McVeigh station a getaway car near the Murrah building. Marife also failed to give Nichols an alibi for April 18, 1995, the day the prosecution said Nichols helped McVeigh assemble the truck bomb.<ref name=wapo_wife/>

Nichols was represented by criminal defense attorney [[Michael Tigar]].<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Toobin|first1=Jeffery|title=THE MAN WITH TIMOTHY MCVEIGH|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/09/30/the-man-with-timothy-mcveigh|access-date=September 4, 2015|magazine=The New Yorker|date=September 30, 1996}}</ref> The trial lasted nine weeks with the prosecution calling 100 witnesses tying Nichols to McVeigh and the bombing plot. The prosecution argued that Nichols helped McVeigh purchase and steal bomb ingredients, park the getaway car near the Murrah building and assemble the bomb. The defense attempted to cast doubt on the case against Nichols by calling witnesses who said they saw other men with McVeigh before the bombing and by claiming the government had manipulated the evidence against Nichols.<ref name=wapo_01-08-98/>

The jury deliberated for 41 hours over a period of six days, acquitting Nichols on December 24, 1997, of actually detonating the bomb, but convicting him of conspiring with McVeigh to use a weapon of mass destruction, a [[capital punishment|capital offense]].<ref name="Romano">{{cite news|last1=Romano|first1=Lois|last2=Kenworthy|first2=Tom|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/oklahoma/stories/nichols1224.htm|title=Nichols Guilty of Conspiracy, Manslaughter|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=December 24, 1997|access-date=September 21, 2017|page=A01}}</ref> They acquitted Nichols on the charges of first degree (premeditated) murder, but convicted him on the lesser charge of involuntary (unintentional) manslaughter in the deaths of the federal law enforcement officers.<ref name="Romano"/>

In assessing why Nichols was not convicted of first degree murder, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' noted: {{quote|text=There was no evidence that Nichols had rented the [[Ryder]] truck used to carry the bomb to Oklahoma City, and there was no one who could positively identify him as the purchaser of the two tons of ammonium nitrate, the major component in the bomb. Most problematic for the government was the compelling fact that Nichols was at home in Kansas when McVeigh detonated the truck.<ref name="Romano"/>}} Another theory is that some members of the jury believed Nichols' attorneys' arguments that he had withdrawn from the conspiracy before the bombing.<ref name=account/> His apparent remorse as shown by his crying several times during the testimony could also have swayed the jury.<ref name=account/>

After the penalty hearing concluded, the jury deliberated for 13 hours over two days on whether to give Nichols a death sentence, but deadlocked.<ref name=cnn1/> U.S. District Court Judge [[Richard Paul Matsch|Richard P. Matsch]] then had the option of giving Nichols a sentence of life imprisonment or a lesser term. On June 4, 1998, he sentenced Nichols to life in prison without parole on the conspiracy conviction, calling Nichols "an enemy of the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]]" who had conspired to destroy everything the Constitution protects.<ref>{{cite news |title=Timeline: Oklahoma bombing |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1319772.stm |access-date=June 3, 2018 |work=BBC News |date=May 11, 2001}}</ref> Nichols also received a concurrent 48-year sentence for his eight involuntary manslaughter convictions, six for each victim.<ref>{{Cite web|title=WashingtonPost.com: Oklahoma City Bombing Trial Report|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/oklahoma/nichols.htm|access-date=2022-02-14|website=www.washingtonpost.com}}</ref> Nichols [[blunted affect|showed no emotion]].<ref name=wp1/> He was sent to the [[ADX Florence|Federal Supermax Prison in Florence, Colorado]].<ref name=bop/> On February 26, 1999, a federal appeals court affirmed Nichols' conviction and sentence.<ref name=fox2/>

=== Oklahoma state case ===
After the federal jury deadlocked on the death penalty, which resulted in a life sentence, citizens of Oklahoma petitioned to empanel a state court [[grand jury]] to investigate the bombing. State representative Charles Key led a citizens group that circulated the petitions. It was hoped that evidence implicating other conspirators would be uncovered. A grand jury heard testimony for 18 months about allegations of other accomplices<ref name=author_arrested/> but returned only the indictments against Nichols in March 1999. Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane denied the state prosecution was conducted solely for the purpose of having Nichols executed, saying it was important Nichols be convicted of killing all the victims. "This case has always been about 161 men, women and children and an unborn baby having the same rights to their day in court as eight federal law enforcement officers", Lane said.<ref name=deadlocked/>

Nichols was brought from the prison in Colorado to Oklahoma in January 2000 to face the state trial on 160 capital counts of first-degree murder and one count each of fetal homicide, first-degree arson, and conspiracy.<ref name=msnbc1/> The prosecutor's goal was to get the death penalty.<ref name=msnbc1/><ref name=cnn1/>

During the two-month trial, the prosecution presented a "mountain of [[circumstantial evidence]]," calling 151 witnesses. Their star witness was Fortier, who said Nichols was intimately involved in the conspiracy and had helped obtain bomb ingredients, including fertilizer that was mixed with high-octane fuel. Fortier also testified that McVeigh and Nichols stole cord and blasting caps from a rock quarry, and that Nichols robbed Roger E. Moore, a gun collector, to obtain money for the plot. Nichols' lawyers said he was the "fall guy" and that others, Moore included,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Serrano|first1=Richard A.|title=Ex-Friend of McVeigh Denies Fabricating Firearms Robbery| newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-nov-19-mn-55387-story.html|access-date=1 March 2025|date=November 19, 1997}}</ref> had conspired with McVeigh. They wanted to introduce evidence that a group of [[white supremacists]] had been McVeigh's accomplices. However, the judge did not allow them to do so, saying that the defense had not shown that any of these people committed acts in furtherance of the conspiracy. In their concluding argument, the defense said, "People who are still unknown assisted Timothy McVeigh." On May 26, 2004, the six-man, six-woman jury took five hours to reach guilty verdicts on all charges. When the verdict was read, Nichols showed no emotion, staring straight ahead.<ref name=msnbc1/>

The penalty phase of the trial started on June 1, 2004. The same jury that determined Nichols's guilt would also determine whether he would be put to death.<ref name=msnbc1/> During the five-day hearing, 87 witnesses were called, including victims and family members of Nichols.<ref name=cnn1/> Nichols's relatives testified that he was a loving family man.<ref name=sdt1/> During the closing arguments, the prosecutor argued for the death penalty, stating that 168 people had died so that Nichols and McVeigh "could make a political statement". The defense argued that Nichols had been controlled by a "dominant, manipulative" McVeigh and urged jurors not to be persuaded by the "flood of tears" of the victims who testified.<ref name=cnn1/> The defense also said that Nichols had "sincerely" converted to Christianity.<ref name=trutv2/> After 19½ hours of deliberation over three days, the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on the death penalty.<ref name=cnn1/> With the death penalty no longer an option, Nichols spoke publicly for the first time in the proceedings, making a lengthy statement laced with religious references to Judge [[Steven W. Taylor]]. Nichols also apologized for the murders and offered to write to survivors to "assist in their healing process". Darlene Welch, whose niece was killed in the explosion, said she "didn't appreciate being preached to" by Nichols and that she regretted that "he won't stand before God sooner."<ref name=trutv2/> Judge Taylor called Nichols a terrorist and said "No American citizen has ever brought this kind of devastation; you are in U.S. history the No. 1 mass murderer -- in all of U.S. history" and sentenced Nichols to 161 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.<ref name=msnbc2/> Nichols was returned to the federal prison in Colorado.