U.S. Appellate Panel Denies Nichols Bail : Blast: The Oklahoma City bombing suspect ‘poses a flight risk and a danger to the community’ and ‘should be detained pending trial,’ it rules.

A federal appeals court panel ruled unanimously Friday that Oklahoma City bombing suspect Terry L. Nichols is not entitled to be released on bail.

The panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 3-0 decision agreed with a U.S. District judge that Nichols “poses a flight risk and a danger to the community” and “should be detained pending trial.”

Nichols, 40, and Timothy J. McVeigh, 27, are the main suspects in the April 19 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

Nichols’ lawyer, Michael E. Tigar, said in Oklahoma City that he had not seen the decision and could not comment.

Earlier, Tigar lashed out at federal prosecutors for what he called a biased attempt to seek the death penalty against his client.

Tigar said statements by Atty. Gen. Janet Reno in the days after the bombing violated federal procedures by leaving prosecutors with no choice but to seek the death penalty.

“Reno’s announcement directly violates the government’s own procedures for making the determination whether to seek the death penalty in a given case,” Tigar said in a letter to federal prosecutors dated Thursday.

Both Reno and President Clinton promised to seek capital punishment against those responsible for the bombing, which killed 168 people, wounded hundreds more and caused millions of dollars in damage to downtown Oklahoma City.

Tigar also repeated a request that U.S. Atty. Pat Ryan and other Oklahoma City prosecutors recuse themselves because of ties to people killed in the bombing.

“Your office is not suitable as a decision-maker because Department of Justice employees were among those injured or killed in the bombing,” he said.

An attorney for McVeigh filed a similar letter with prosecutors calling the federal process of considering whether to seek the death penalty in his client’s case a charade.

Indictments against Nichols and McVeigh are expected to be returned by Aug. 11. With Friday’s appeals court decision, the two can expect to remain in jail until that date, pending another appeal.

McVeigh has not appealed to be released on bail.

Friday’s decision did not refer to any of Nichols’ arguments on why he should be released, including his contention that he was denied bail because of his anti-government views.