Terry Nichols' State Trial
We are headed back to Denver and very grateful to TChris for all his great posts this weekend. We'll be back after the finale of Sex and the City tonight. (Our prediction: Carrie will come back to the U.S. with Big but refuse to marry him.) In other news, Terry Nichols' retrial in Oklahoma is set to begin March 1. It is in McAlester, Oklahoma--home of Oklahoma's death row, munitions factory and prison system. That speaks volumes about the potential jury pool.
Nichols' has offered to plead guilty and take a life sentence, but that's not good enough for those who want him dead. A recent poll of Oklahomans shows that most of them do not want this trial.
A recent Tulsa World poll found that 70 percent of Oklahomans feel the expense of a state trial is unnecessary since Nichols is already serving a life sentence. An earlier poll, for The Oklahoman, found a majority of state residents would prefer a plea bargain to a trial.
Not even the families of the victims are in accord on the issue:
Jim Denny makes an unlikely advocate for Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols. His two children still suffer from injuries received when the explosion ripped through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
For his role in the terrorist attack, Mr. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without parole. But on March 1, he will face a new trial on state murder charges - and nearly nine years after the bombing, many Oklahomans say enough is enough.
"The federal government did a great job trying both McVeigh and Nichols," says Mr. Denny from his home in Oklahoma City. "But this state trial is the biggest waste of money and waste of time. There comes a time when we have to let go." Denny is not alone. In a recent poll sponsored by the Tulsa World, 70 percent of those surveyed opposed a state trial, which has already cost taxpayers $4 million. The resistance isn't just about money, say mental-health experts; it's about progress, and a sign that Oklahoma is healing.
We will be following this trial closely when it begins.
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