Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols today offered to waive all appeals of his federal life sentence hours before new district attorney Mr Wes Lane was to announce whether he would pursue state capital murder charges, which carry the death penalty, against Nichols.
The offer came in the unusual form of a letter to the editor of the
Tulsa World
from Nichols' lawyer Mr Brian Hermanson. The
Tulsa World
printed the letter in today’s edition.
Mr Hermanson said Nichols was willing to drop a current appeal and any future appeals of his 1997 federal conviction for helping plan the car bomb that killed 168 people in April 1995.
"Taking such a step ensures that he (Nichols) will spend the rest of his life in prison," Hermanson wrote in the letter. It would enable Mr Lane to drop the state prosecution, thereby sparing Oklahoma the trauma and expense of another trial.
The chance that Nichols might someday win an appeal and have his sentence reduced or tossed out has frequently been cited by supporters of the state case, including former district attorney Mr Bob Macy.
Mr Lane has raised questions about pursuing the Nichols case since taking over on July 2 from Mr Macy, who originally filed 160 counts of state capital murder charges against Nichols in 1999 but saw the case mired in a series of pre-trial court setbacks.