Terry Nichols (OKC Bombing Convict) Given Life Sentence (again)
 

My state just spent 13-million dollars on a new trial for Terry Nichols. One that accused him of all 161 deaths caused by the bomb that he and Timmy McVeigh are convicted of planting in OKC back in '95. The goal was to get the fella the death penalty.

Well, the jury had 4 members that said they were swayed by all of the testimony related to Nichols recent jailhouse conversion to Christianity, so they couldn't go for the death penalty!

My thought is, if I'm a Criminal lawyer in Oklahoma, the next time I have a potential death sentence, I'm going to bring up "The State of Oklahoma v. Terry Nichols". If you can't get the needle for killing 161 people (and an unborn child), no one should get the needle -- that's just not a uniform delivery of justice in any way shape or form.

I didn't follow the technicalities of the Oklahoma trial, but as you know, his Federal trial was here in Denver and the company I worked for then provided all of the transmission facilities for CNN.

For some reason I can't explain, Nichols seems to dodge the Death Penalty. Perhaps since he appears to be a follower instead of a leader.

My whole problem with the fella is that he had a hand in killing 161 people and an unborn baby. If that act doesn't rise to the level of the needle, what does?

If anyone deserves the death penalty, he does. I really don't care about his newfound faith. It seems kind of convenient to me. He should have found religion before April 1995 and spared all of those lives.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. Conversion or not, this man had a hand in killing innocent people. If he's that secure in his salvation, he wouldn't worry about when he'd die!

So what they're saying is that if he wasn't Christian, he'd be worth killing?

-Rudey

This is the kind of jury you get in eastern Oklahoma.

Did you know the town of Muskogee, OK (where the trial was held) actually had the highest murder rate per-capita in the US for awhile? My grandfather was beaten to death there in a bar fight. No one was ever arrested for it.

There's a special kind of justice and a special kind of ignorance out there.

Sometimes I really wish we could put these people in large cargo planes and ship them to a bunch of Arab countries and see who fights better.

-Rudey

I'd love to see that.

Correction to above posts: It was in McCalister, not Muskogee.

Both are equally podunk though.

Muskogee has actually produced some great guys in my chapter, so I can't be overly hard on 'em.

It's McAlester... home to the Oklahoma State Prison, and also the Scottish Rite Valley of McAlester (where Will Rogers got his Scottish Rite degrees). Other than that... it's a glorified wide spot in the road... ;) :D

Co-sign to this. I don't know that I would vote to give somebody the death penalty, but I wouldn't vote against it because they were Christian.

Ya know.. that's one thing about Oklahoma small towns. We have some amazing Masonic Temples.

Give 'em the chair
 

Terry Nichols not getting the death penalty is a failure to the justice system, the tax-paying American people, and the family and friends of the victims of the bombing. What message does this give to other would-be terrorist/mass-murderers out there? You can kill 161 people and an unborn baby, and you'll get an all-expense paid vacation to the big house complete with 3 meals a day, TV, and a gym. Prison's no picknick, though, what with all the beatings and sodomy, but I'd much rather see him get the needle. Let's not forget that this is TERRORISM, and that terrrorism is a crime against the country (Treason), and it was a federal building he blew up.

I truely hope he found Christ, but Christ absolves you of your spiritual sins, not your earthly crimes. You're still accountable and should have to face justice. Like I said, I really do hope he's found Christ, and not using that as a cop-out to avoid the death penalty. I'm a Christian, but if I rob a bank, I should go to jail just like anybody else.

Re: Give 'em the chair
 

On the face of it, I would generally tend to agree, however two juries have now failed to give Nichols the Death Penalty -- the Federal one here in Denver and the State jury in Oklahoma.

As I said before, I didn't follow the Oklahoma trial, but the two separate groups of his/our peers must have seen something that we don't.

If that's true, then this could be exactly the purpose of the American Justice system -- to spare the life of one man involved in the same event, while executing another.

I don't understand the decisions, but I have a fair amount of faith in the system as a whole.