Rebuttals in Nichols Case End Testimony

McALESTER, Okla. — Testimony ended Friday at the state murder trial of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry L. Nichols as prosecutors tried to refute defense theories that other accomplices helped plan the attack.

Prosecutors questioned 13 witnesses over two days of rebuttals that hammered key elements of Nichols’ defense, including suggestions that executed bomber Timothy J. McVeigh received substantial help in the bombing that killed 168 people.

Judge Steven Taylor excused the 12-member jury until Monday afternoon, when closing arguments are scheduled.

Taylor also denied Nichols’ request for jurors to consider less serious charges when they deliberate. Jurors will now be limited to two possible verdicts in the case: guilty of first-degree murder or innocent.

“That was a huge victory for us,” said Darlene Welch, whose 4-year-old niece, Ashley Megan Eckles, died in the bombing.

“It’s all or nothing,” Welch said.

Nichols had wanted the jury to consider verdicts on lesser charges of second-degree murder or second-degree manslaughter.

Nichols, 49, is serving a life prison sentence after a federal jury convicted him in 1997 of conspiracy and the involuntary manslaughter of eight federal law enforcement agents in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

In Oklahoma, Nichols is charged with 161 counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of the other 160 victims and one victim’s fetus. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

McVeigh was executed in 2001 for setting off the blast.