Prosecution wraps up in Nichols penalty phase

Judge Richard Matsch

Judge admonishes jurors not to get 'swept away'

December 31, 1997
Web posted at: 9:30 p.m. EST (0230 GMT)

DENVER (CNN) -- As the prosecution ended its case Wednesday in the penalty phase of Terry Nichols' trial, the judge admonished jurors not to be "swept away" by emotional testimony from survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing and the families of its 168 victims.

In a 20-minute address to the jury, which is deciding whether to recommend the death penalty for Nichols, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch warned them that the "impact" testimony being offered by the prosecution needed to be put in context.

"The ultimate question is what should be done to him for the crime of conspiracy," Matsch said. "It would be a violation of your oath to be swept away by the emotional impact of the testimony.

"None of what you heard was admissible evidence at trial ... None of it proves anything against Terry Nichols and the charges against him."

Jurors convicted Nichols of conspiracy for his role in the April 19, 1995 bombing but found him guilty of only involuntary manslaughter, not murder, in connection with the deaths of eight federal law enforcement agents. It also acquitted him of a charge of using a weapon of mass destruction.

Terry Nichols

Still, under federal law, the conspiracy conviction alone can carry the death penalty. And hoping to persuade the jury to recommend death, prosecutors spent the week putting bombing survivors and relatives of the dead on the stand to discuss how their lives were shattered by the events in Oklahoma City.

The prosecution wrapped up its presentation Wednesday. The court is off Thursday, and the defense is expected to begin presenting witnesses Friday.

Matsch's lecture to the jury Wednesday came after a closed-door conference with the defense and prosecution, amid defense complaints that the emotional testimony, which was reducing some jurors to tears, might unduly sway them to turn from judgment to vengeance.

But Matsch's comments didn't stop the emotional tone in the courtroom. Glaring at Nichols, Kathleen Treanor -- whose young daughter died in the blast along with the child's grandparents -- shouted that her daughter was "taken from me" and "the next time I saw her was in a box." She shook and sobbed during her testimony and even pounded her fists.

Her outburst left the courtroom so shaken that Matsch again felt the need to address the jury.

"This woman lost it, and the volume with which she expressed her anger is something which may have been intended to suggest more to you than she was asked," Matsch said. "Obviously, that was inappropriate."

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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