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| S P E C I A L | The Terry Nichols Trial |
Nichols jury to continue deliberations Wednesday
In this story: December 16, 1997
Nichols
Web posted at: 10:37 p.m. EST (0337 GMT)DENVER (CNN) -- The jury in the Terry Nichols bombing trial will continue deliberating Wednesday, trying to decide what role he played in the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Jurors deliberated nearly three hours on Tuesday before going home for the night.
The panel of seven women and five men must decide whether Nichols is guilty of any of the 11 charges stemming from the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City -- conspiracy, use of a weapon of mass destruction, and eight counts of murder. If found guilty, he could face a death sentence.
A L S O :
Oklahoma City bombing trial - Transcripts
Newsmaker Profiles: Terry Nichols
Timothy McVeigh, 29, was convicted of those same charges last June and sentenced to die.
Jurors not sequestered
In a surprise move, U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch told jurors they can consider convicting Nichols of offenses that do not carry a death penalty option, such as second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
These were not options offered jurors who convicted McVeigh and sentenced him to death by lethal injection.
Matsch told the jury in his final instructions: "You must not allow public opinion to play a role in your decision."
In another departure from the McVeigh trial, the jurors were not sequestered. After they deliberated on Tuesday, Matsch allowed them to leave court and go their "separate ways," but reminded them they are not permitted to talk to anybody about the case, and must not read or watch news reports.
Defense closes with challenge to FBI
Earlier on Tuesday, the defense closed its arguments by attacking the FBI for trying to twist witness accounts, change testimony and ignore evidence that did not fit its theory.
Attorney Ron Woods said FBI witness interviews were "a disgrace" because they were not tape-recorded, notes were sloppy and incomplete and evidence was manipulated to elicit more useful witness testimony.
"They tried to put square pegs in round holes," he said.
Nichols, 42, who served in the Army with McVeigh, walked into the courtroom Tuesday morning and smiled at his lead attorney Michael Tigar, who patted him on the back. When he sat down, he seemed more subdued than usual.
The defendant's wife, Marife, and his brother, sister, father and mother all were in the courtroom as the proceedings began.
The prosecution and defense summations began Monday and lasted eight hours, occasionally prompting some jurors -- and others in the courtroom -- to doze off.
As he picked up Tuesday where he left off Monday, Woods pointed to discrepancies in the testimony of key prosecution witnesses.
One, Richard Wahl, told a grand jury that a truck he saw at Geary Lake, Kansas, the day before the attack had single square headlights, Woods said. The bomb truck had dual headlights. Prosecutors claim the bomb was built in the truck at Geary Lake.
Woods said two witnesses from the Mid-Kansas Co-op, which sold two tons of ammonium nitrate to a man who used the signature "Mike Havens" in transactions in September and October of 1994, changed the description of the purchaser initially given to the FBI.
But, he said, they still did not identify Nichols as Mike Havens.
"You might think, 'Is this the FBI that I've seen on TV?' The difference in the myth of the FBI and the reality of the FBI is as big as the Grand Canyon," Woods said.
State charges planned
The April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City killed 168 men, women and children and maimed or otherwise injured 500 others.
The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995
McVeigh was accused of actually parking the bomb truck in front of the building, and the government concedes Nichols was at his home in Herington, Kansas, at the time of the attack.
But the thrust of the circumstantial case is the contention that Nichols helped to plan the bombing and build the nearly 5,000-pound ammonium fertilizer bomb used in the attack.
Even if acquitted, Nichols would not be freed. Oklahoma City District Attorney Robert Macy has indicated he will bring state charges against both men regardless of the outcome of the federal case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
T H E N I C H O L S T R I A L / T H E M c V E I G H T R I A L
T H E B O M B I N G / C N N S T O R I E S / L I N K S
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