State Charges Against Nichols Are Allowed
A state appellate court ruled that trying Terry L. Nichols on state murder charges for the Oklahoma City bombing does not violate his right against being tried twice for the same offense.
It ruled that Nichols, convicted of federal bombing charges and sentenced to life in prison, can also be tried in state court on 160 counts of first-degree murder for the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.
But in a sharply worded dissent, one member of the five-member court said he believed the state’s “double jeopardy” rule bars state prosecutors from bringing Nichols to trial a second time.
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