Nichols Trial Set to Get Under Way -- The Crypt of Buffy's vampire

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Date Posted: 07:08:36 03/22/04 Mon
Author: Shelley
Subject: Nichols Trial Set to Get Under Way

I lived in McAlester..I bet the place is booming now.I hope they nail his sorry ass!

McALESTER, Okla. - Terry Nichols' state trial is to get under way Monday with opening statements and a defendant already serving a life sentence on federal changes. The trial is estimated to last four to six months.

AP Photo

Prosecutors have lined up more than 400 witnesses to testify against Nichols, who is charged in Oklahoma with 161 counts of first-degree murder. Defense attorneys claim that Nichols was set up.

Nichols, 48, was already convicted for the deaths of eight federal law enforcement officers in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 people. The state charges are for the other 160 victims and one victim's fetus.

Prosecutors allege that Nichols helped bomber Timothy McVeigh (news - web sites) plan and execute the April 19, 1995, bombing. Defense attorneys claim Nichols was set up by unknown coconspirators.

When it comes to the state trial, Jannie Coverdale and Jim Denny are united by anger yet on opposite sides of the debate.

Coverdale, who lost two grandsons in the 1995 blast, wants Nichols to get the death penalty. Denny, whose two children were injured in the explosion, thinks he and his family have already gotten justice.

"The last nine years, I've just put my life on hold. Almost everything I do, it has something to do with the bombing," said Coverdale. "If Terry Nichols does not get the death penalty, we might as well abolish the death penalty in this country."

Others oppose the trial because of its cost and the fact that Nichols is already serving life in prison. The case already has cost the state about $3.4 million, not including prosecution expenses and security costs.

"We think it's a waste of money, a waste of time. This is a black mark on our justice system," said Denny.

Bud Welch, a death penalty opponent whose daughter, 23-year-old Julie Marie Welch, was killed, said the trial "has nothing to do with the healing process."

"Family members are being victimized again," he said.

A jury of six men and six women, as well as six alternates, was seated March 11 after nine days of questioning about whether they could be fair and impartial, and could consider sentencing Nichols to death if he is convicted.

Other penalties include life in prison without parole or life with the possibility of parole.

Nichols was at his home in Herington, Kan., the day the bomb went off. Prosecutors allege that Nichols worked with McVeigh to prepare the 4,000-pound bomb and helped McVeigh pack it inside a Ryder truck.

Prosecutors say Nichols robbed Arkansas gun dealer Roger Moore in November 1994 to help finance the bomb plot. Defense attorneys believe the robbery was committed by members of a gang of white supremacist bank robbers who may have helped McVeigh.

Authorities say the bombing was a plot to avenge the 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian complex in Waco, Texas, that killed 80 people. The bombing occurred on the raid's second anniversary.

McVeigh was executed in 2001.

Nichols' state trial was moved to McAlester, about 130 miles from Oklahoma City, because of pretrial publicity. A handful of survivors and victims' family members came for jury selection, and more are expected when testimony begins.

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