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[OKC BOMBING] Testimony under way in Nichols trial
Tue Mar 23 19:07:51 2004
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Testimony under way in Nichols trial
By James Beaty
cnhi News Service

CNHI PHOTO/ Kevin Harvison, McAlester News-Capital & Democrat

Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols leaves the Pittsburg County Courthouse in McAlester after the first day of his state trial, Monday. Nichols faces 161 first-degree murder counts in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building.
http://www.claremoreprogress.com/archive/article.php?sid=12994

McALESTER (cnhi) - Scheming terrorist and mentor to Timothy McVeigh or betrayed patsy set up to take the fall for John Doe Number Two and a host of other conspirators?

Oklahoma County Assistant District Attorney Lou Keel and defense attorney Brian Hermanson painted two very different pictures Monday of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols.

They both addressed jurors during opening statements in Nichols’ trial on state charges at the Pittsburg County Courthouse in McAlester.

Nichols is charged with 161 counts of murder, along with counts of conspiracy and arson, in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

A faulty sound system and the constant drone of a huge fan set up to blow air into the courtroom made it difficult for many in the gallery, including some bombing victims and family members, to hear the attorneys during opening statements — although jurors apparently had no trouble.

Keel said McVeigh and Nichols worked together to make the bomb that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building. Prosecutors have alleged the 4,000-pound bomb consisted of ammonium nitrate, fuel oil and blasting caps.

“By the end of October 1994, they had pretty much all the pieces they needed to make this bomb,” Keel said.

The prosecutor said Nichols had written a letter to McVeigh at one point saying “You’re on your own. Go for it.”

Keel said he also intends to call a witness who will testify that Nichols told him he wanted to purchase a trailer that would carry 55-pound drums.

He said the witness will testify Nichols became upset when he learned the trailer wasn’t enclosed and that the drums would be visible.

Keel also said he intends to call Michael Fortier, who is serving a 12-year federal prison sentence for not warning authorities about the bombing.

He said Fortier will testify Nichols and McVeigh practiced making and exploding bombs in Arizona.

“These two partners are doing it, learning it, practicing it,” Keel said.

Opening for the defense, Hermanson said, “This is a case about friendship, about manipulation, about betrayal.”

Hermanson said McVeigh plotted with others to blow up the Murrah Federal Building. He said the evidence will show that McVeigh betrayed Nichols for the purpose of covering up for other bombing conspirators.

“Terry Nichols was not in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995,” Hermanson said.

He also alluded to phone records, which will be presented to show numerous phone calls made from Nichols’ home. Hermanson said McVeigh would make the calls while Nichols was away, working.

Referring to Fortier, expected to be one of the prosecution’s chief witnesses, Hermanson said “Fortier and McVeigh were very close.

“Terry Nichols hardly ever saw Michael Fortier,” he said.

Keel called FBI Special Agent Mary Jasnowski as the first witness for the prosecution. Jasnowski said she was part of a special FBI evidence recovery team that searched Nichols’ Kansas home after the bombing.

Keel spent part of the afternoon placing materials on a screen that showed various materials seized during the search of Nichols’ home — including a receipt for the purchase of ammonium nitrate, some anti-government reading material and photographs of Nichols’ home and lawn showing Nichols had a poorly kept lawn for someone who bought so much fertilizer.

Jannie Coverdale traveled to McAlester to hear the opening statements Monday.

Two of her grandsons, Aaron Coverdale, 5, and Elijah Coverdale, 2, died in the bombing.

She has little patience with those who say trying Nichols on 161 counts of first-degree murder is a waste of time and money. Nichols is serving a federal sentence of life without parole plus 48 years for his convictions of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of eight federal agents who died in the blast. The state is seeking the death penalty. McVeigh was executed for federal murder convictions based on the federal agents’ deaths.

“I feel my grandsons are just as important as those eight federal agents,” Coverdale said. “Those people who say we shouldn’t have another trial, I feel sorry for them.”

Before opening statements on Monday, Taylor excused two jurors and an alternate after prosecutors said the three were distant cousins of Oklahoma County Assistant District Attorney George Burnett.

They were replaced by three of the six alternates who had been seated for the trial — reducing by half the number of alternates left to hear the case.

Taylor called the fact that the prosecutors had not informed him earlier of the connection “inexcusable.”

The judge said he will dismiss the charges against Nichols with prejudice if the state runs out of jurors to hear the case before the trial ends.

James Beaty is McAlester News-Capital & Democrat senior editor and lead reporter for cnhi team coverage of the Nichols trial. Contact him at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com .


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