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Terry Nichols Convicted on All Counts

By Jeralyn, Section Oklahoma City Bombing
Posted on Wed May 26, 2004 at 12:45:24 PM EST
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Bump and Update: Terry Nichols has been convicted of 161 counts of first degree murder, conspiracy and arson. The jury deliberated only four hours. He will now face a death penalty proceeding before the same jury. We'll be talking about it on MSNBC's Abrams Report today (6 pm ET) . (Correction: Big news in Kobe Bryant case, our Nichols segment is cancelled and we'll be talking about Kobe instead. )

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Original Post

Bump and Update: The defense closed today in the Terry Nichols trial. Defense Attorney Barbara Bergman attacked the Government's case:

"This is a case about manipulation, betrayal and overreaching," Bergman said. "People who are still unknown assisted Timothy McVeigh."....Bergman reminded jurors of dozens of witnesses who testified they saw McVeigh with others, including a stocky, dark-haired man depicted in an FBI sketch and known only as John Doe No. 2, in the weeks before the bombing. Witnesses said the others did not resemble Nichols.

"The state has jumped over a lot of holes in the case. The state has to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt and they haven't." Bergman attacked scientific evidence presented by prosecutors during 29 days of testimony. The evidence included the discovery of ammonium nitrate crystals on a piece of plywood that was part of the Ryder truck that delivered the bomb.

Steven Burmeister, an FBI scientist, testified for the prosecution that the crystals were embedded in the plywood under pressure, possibly from an explosion, but a former FBI chemist, Frederic Whitehurst, testified that the crystals were only adhering to the surface and that their origin was unknown.

Bergman also criticized the testimony of an FBI fingerprint examiner, Louis Hupp, who testified that Nichols' palm prints were on a handwritten map of downtown Oklahoma City that was discovered in a trash can at Nichols' Kansas home. On cross-examination by defense attorneys, Hupp said he had made an error and Nichols' palm prints were not on the map. "He was just plain wrong," Bergman said. "He testified under oath in a capital case about palm prints that don't exist." "Because the FBI investigation is flawed, you've got to ask yourself, how confident can I be?"

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Original Post 5/25 7:27