Oklahoma City Bombing Trials: 1997-98

On December 23, Nichols was found guilty of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, but was acquitted on the two counts related to using such a weapon. The jury settled on convicting Nichols of eight counts of involuntary manslaughter, rather than murder. It appeared that the jury was certain that Nichols was involved in the plot, but chose to convict him only on the counts for which his responsibility seemed clear.

When the jury met again to consider a sentence for Nichols, however, they could not agree on a punishment. On January 7, 1998, they announced to Judge Matsch that they were deadlocked, thus leaving the sentencing to the judge. After their dismissal, jurors revealed that they felt prosecutors had not conclusively proven the extent to which Nichols was involved in the actual bombing. Without unanimous agreement from the jury, the judge was prevented from imposing a death sentence.

In the months that passed before Nichols's sentencing, McVeigh's attorneys filed an appeal. They claimed there was evidence of juror misconduct and argued that emotional testimony by survivors and victims' family members had prejudiced the jury. The appeal also claimed that Judge Matsch had erred in not allowing testimony about possible alternative antigovernment extremist conspiracy theories and by not giving the jury an option of convicting McVeigh of a lesser charge of second-degree murder.

Michael Fortier was sentenced on May 27 for failing to report McVeigh's and Nichols's criminal intentions, lying to the FBI about the case, and various weapons charges. Despite acknowledgments from the prosecution and the judge crediting Fortier's testimony with significantly helping to convict Mc-Veigh and Nichols, federal sentencing guidelines required that Fortier serve 12 years in prison. Fortier's plea bargain also required him to pay $200,000 in fines, including restitution to the Arkansas gun store owner who had been robbed to finance the plotters' bomb-making activities. In contrast to the silent McVeigh and Nichols, Fortier tearfully apologized after his sentencing. Neither the apology nor the sentence was sufficient for victims and family members who spoke before the sentencing, urging the judge to impose a severe penalty upon the man whose silence had allowed the bombing to take place.

On June 4, 1998, Judge Matsch imposed the maximum sentence of life without parole for Nichols's conviction on conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. Nichols was also sentenced to eight concurrent six-year terms for involuntary manslaughter. The judge accused Nichols of attempting to destroy the very institution on whose behalf he had adopted violence.

"What he did was participate with others in a conspiracy that would seek to destroy all of the things that the Constitution protects," Judge Matsch said. "Terry Nichols has proven to be an enemy of the Constitution, and accordingly the sentence I am going to impose will be for the duration of his life."

Although Nichols's sentence appeared to spare his life, he still faced a second trial. Prior to his sentencing, Nichols had rejected an offer of leniency by Judge Matsch in return for information about the bombing, saying that it might put him in jeopardy if the state of Oklahoma pursued charges against him. As expected, in March 1999, the Oklahoma County district attorney charged Nichols with 160 counts of murder for the deaths of the victims who were not federal law enforcement officers. The possibility that he could be executed for his part in the Oklahoma City disaster remained.