December 13, 1995
Web posted at: 9:45 p.m. EST
OKLAHOMA CITY (CNN) -- Bombing suspects Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols never looked at each other once during three hours of court hearings as they were brought together in the same room Wednesday for the first time since the terrorist attack on the Oklahoma City federal building.
Each man, at separate times, smiled and waved at Terry Nichols' older brother, James, sitting in the audience. But even though McVeigh and Terry Nichols were seated with their defense teams only a few feet apart from each other, they seemed to avoid contact of any kind.
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McVeigh and Terry Nichols are charged with terrorism, murder and conspiracy in the April 19 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building. The attack left 169 dead and more than 500 others injured. They could face the death penalty if convicted.
The two men have been kept apart, in isolation, at a federal prison outside Oklahoma City since shortly after they were charged in the case. They were brought into court for separate appearances when they entered not guilty pleas in August.
Outside the courtroom, James Nichols said he had talked with both men in prison by telephone -- his brother last week, and McVeigh in August -- and insisted both were innocent of the charges. "They wouldn't involve innocent people. They wouldn't kill innocent people," he told reporters.
"He's lying," said Janni Coverdale, who lost two young grandchildren in the bombing attack. Mrs. Coverdale came to the courtroom to sit through Wednesday's hearings and stood behind James Nichols as he spoke. "I know deep down inside that Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh are guilty, and I believe with all my heart that James Nichols is, too," she said.
The older Nichols, a farmer in Michigan, was jailed for a month on charges of setting off small explosives on his property before prosecutors dropped the case.
James Nichols accused the government of fabricating charges against all three men because McVeigh had criticized the government after the fatal FBI raid on the Branch Davidian religious compound outside Waco, Texas, in 1993. The Oklahoma City bombing came on the second anniversary of that Waco fire.
Wednesday's hearing marked the first appearance in court by the new judge assigned to the bombing trial, Judge Richard Matsch from Denver, Colorado. The hearing involved various minor issues in the case.
Judge Matsch has scheduled another hearing for January 30 on defense efforts to get the trial moved out of Oklahoma. He said Wednesday that other hearings on major issues such as the death penalty and whether Nichols and McVeigh are to be tried together will not be scheduled until after a decision is made on the trial site. He indicated where those hearings will take place may depend on where the trial will be.
The judge will not set a trial time until sometime after next month's hearing. He has canceled the May trial date set by the previous judge.
McVeigh's lawyer said the trial could be a year away. Attorney Stephen Jones, asked to guess when the trial might start, said, "It's highly speculative, but not before fall (1996)."
In matters taken up at Wednesday's court hearing, the judge indicated the prosecution should make a better effort to turn over more evidence to the defense in advance. But he showed little sympathy to requests from news media organizations, including CNN, for immediate access to records on how much defense lawyers are being paid out of taxpayer funds. He said he would rule on the issue later.
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