Jury Pool Dwindles in Bombing Trial

More than half of the 21 prospective jurors questioned so far in the Oklahoma City bombing trial were excused, including one woman who said she might get psychic messages. U.S. District Judge Richard P. Matsch agreed to excuse the prospective jurors in the Denver trial of Terry L. Nichols because they could not promise to be impartial, were likely to disrupt the trial or could not consider the death penalty. But Matsch denied prosecution requests to excuse a woman who said a decision to sentence someone to death would haunt her, saying “people should not be comfortable on a jury.” That left nine potential jurors from the first four days of trial. Twelve jurors and six alternates will be chosen from a pool of 64.