Jurors Begin Deliberations in Bomb Trial

After final impassioned pleas both for Terry L. Nichols and the memory of the scores of people he is accused of killing, a jury began deliberating the case Tuesday and was instructed about lesser murder charges that could result in a sentence other than life or death.

“One hundred and sixty-eight people died in Oklahoma City,” Michael Tigar, the lead defense attorney for Nichols, told the jury. “We have never denied the reality of that.”

But then he recalled his first visit to Washington 30 years ago and the words “equal justice under law” carved above the pillars of the Supreme Court building.

“That means rich or poor, neighbor or stranger, a tax protester or not, or someone who’s different from us,” Tigar said. “Wouldn’t it be terrible if it was thought that the fitting memorial to the 168 people who died would be to go there at night and chop those words off?”

In words breaking with emotion, Tigar told the jurors, “I don’t envy you the job that you have. But I tell you. . . .”

Tigar paused. He placed his hands on Nichols’ shoulders and, speaking directly to the jury, whispered: “This is my brother. He’s in your hands.”

Both men were crying.

But the last words to the jury came from Larry Mackey, the chief prosecutor, and he attempted to turn Tigar’s emotion to the government’s advantage. He too spoke softly, imploring the jury to return a verdict against the 42-year-old Nichols, described as the closest friend and confidant of Timothy J. McVeigh.

“The men, women and children inside the Alfred P. Murrah building are your brothers and sisters as well,” Mackey said. “The justice he deserves is in your hands.”

He added that “a new picture has emerged” in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Murrah building, “as vivid as the one America remembers from that morning.”

“Now in the foreground of that picture stands Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh--two men, side by side, responsible for the most horrific crime in American history.”

The jury of seven women and five men spent just under three hours in their initial deliberations Tuesday before going home. They are to return to court this morning.

Judge Richard P. Matsch warned the jurors to adhere to the evidence presented in court. “You must not allow public opinion to play a role in your decision,” he said.

The government strongly indicated that Nichols joined McVeigh in renting storage lockers, acquiring ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, and stealing blasting caps and other explosives.

The defense, however, raised questions about a second Ryder rental truck and the possibility of other men--including the elusive John Doe No. 2 some saw with McVeigh--as the chief collaborators.

McVeigh was convicted earlier this year and sentenced to death. His jury was instructed to weigh only death or life in prison with no parole.

Both McVeigh and Nichols were named in an 11-count indictment--three charges of conspiracy in the bombing and one count for each of the eight federal law enforcement officers killed.

But Tigar persuaded Matsch to include lesser charges for Nichols of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. In that scenario, he could be sentenced to less than a life term.

Scott Robinson, a Denver lawyer and legal analyst who has monitored both trials, said the lesser charges could help Nichols on appeal, if he is convicted of capital murder on some charges and second-degree murder or manslaughter on others.

“It creates some possibility of an inconsistent verdict,” Robinson said.

Tigar, in his final address to the jury, challenged the government’s contention that Nichols burglarized Roger Moore, an Arkansas gun dealer, saying there were too many holes in the story. “I was born at night, but I wasn’t born last night,” Tigar said. “No, folks. It doesn’t make sense the way Roger Moore tells it.”

Tigar said the government discounted numerous stories of sightings of McVeigh with other men. “The government can’t handle the truth,” he said.

Nichols was trying to break off his relationship with McVeigh and start a new life, and definitely was not trying to help McVeigh bomb the Murrah building, Tigar said.

“He’s human,” Tigar said of Nichols. “And to aid and abet someone, you have to prove more than just a mere association.”

Another defense lawyer, Ron Woods, who has worked as an FBI agent and once served as the U.S. attorney in Houston, savaged the FBI for deciding two days after the bombing that Nichols was McVeigh’s sole collaborator and not looking for other suspects.

“They are not flawless,” he told the jury about the bureau. “The difference between them and you, and them and I, is they are operating under tremendous pressure to get the right guy. And they had this solved within two days.”

But Mackey strongly defended the FBI’s work, noting that agents conducted 30,000 interviews and generated “thousands and thousands” of documents in the case.

“There’s been no rush to judgment in the investigation and prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombing,” he said. “The survivors inside that building wouldn’t stand for it. The people of Oklahoma wouldn’t stand for it. America wouldn’t stand for it in this of all cases.”

He also mocked Nichols, suggesting he thought that by staying home in Herington, Kan., the morning of the bombing, he could elude justice and let his Army buddy McVeigh take the fall.

“Terry Nichols intended to get away with it,” he said. “But now, 32 months since that truck bomb exploded, it’s finally time. It is time for justice.

“And you,” he told the jury, “are in control of that.”