Nichols’ Alibi for Eve of Blast Comes Under Attack

Prosecutors launched an attack Tuesday on Terry L. Nichols’ alibi for the day before the Oklahoma City bombing, trying to show he was not at a military surplus auction while the bomb was being assembled.

The prosecution maintains that Nichols helped Timothy J. McVeigh build the bomb at a lake on the morning of April 18, 1995.

Nichols has said he lent McVeigh his pickup while he went to a military surplus auction at Ft. Riley, Kan., that day. He said he wandered around an outside area for about five hours before he signed a log-in sheet.

Mary Garza, who runs the surplus auctions at Ft. Riley, testified Tuesday that a log sheet indicated Nichols signed in at 12:50 p.m.

Prosecutors then called two witnesses who were at the auction but could not recall seeing Nichols.

William R. McDonald, who works in an outside area at the auction, said he would have remembered had Nichols been in that area for five hours.

Caroline Marin, who bought a vehicle at the auction, said she was in the outside area for about 10 minutes around the time Nichols said he was there and did not see him. She said it was too cold for her to stay outside.

Prosecutors have alleged Nichols actually went with McVeigh to Geary State Fishing Lake, where the two constructed the bomb in the back of a Ryder truck before noon. Two witnesses have said they saw a Ryder truck and a pickup truck similar to the one owned by Nichols at the lake that day.

On April 19, the bomb exploded at the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.

Prosecutors also called a Kansas coin shop dealer who testified that Nichols and McVeigh sold him coins at a time the government alleges the two were raising money and acquiring components for the bomb. Nichols, 42, could get the death penalty if he is convicted of the bombing.