Oklahoma City bomber conspirator escapes death penalty a second time
June 12, 2004 | Agence France-Presse

Terry Nichols, the convicted accomplice of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, escaped the death penalty for a second time Friday, after the jurors in his state trial declared themselves deadlocked.

The jury in McAlester, Oklahoma, gave up on its third day of deliberations, after earlier convicting Nichols of 161 counts of murder in connection with the deaths of civilians in the 1995 bombing.

The responsibility for sentencing the 49-year-old former Army buddy of McVeigh now falls to state District Judge Stephen Taylor, who has said he will announce his decision August 9.

By Oklahoma state law, Taylor's choices are to give Nichols life in prison with or without the possibility of parole. He cannot order a death sentence if a jury deadlocks on punishment.

It's the second time that Nichols has eluded the executioner for his part in the devastating attack on Oklahoma City's Alfred P. Murrah federal building.

In 1998, Nichols was convicted of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of eight federal agents who perished in the blast.

A jury considered the death penalty, but came to a similar impasse, and Nichols got life in prison without parole.

State prosecutors had made it clear that it was their goal to get the death penalty this time round, and some of the relatives of the 161 civilians sat silently, dabbing tears as the result of the jury's deliberations became apparent.

The April 19, 1995 attack was the most deadly act of terrorism on US soil at that time, killing 168 people, including 19 children, and injuring 500 more.

Federal authorities executed McVeigh June 11, 2001, for his part in the atrocity. During his time on death row, the Persian War veteran spoke openly of his part in the atrocity and the anti-government hatred that motivated him.

According to prosecutors, Nichols aided McVeigh by assembling some of the ingredients of the massive fertilizer bomb.

But Nichols' defense attorneys insisted their client was merely the government's scapegoat for a much larger conspiracy.

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