McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Attorneys for Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols have seized an early opportunity to mount their defense, using cross-examination of key prosecution witnesses to try to bolster their theory of a wider bombing conspiracy.
During three weeks of testimony at Nichols’ murder trial, Oklahoma prosecutors questioned 86 witnesses about evidence that Nichols helped bomber Timothy McVeigh plan and execute what was the worst act of domestic terrorism in the nation’s history.
Defense attorneys have used some of those same witnesses to boost their argument that McVeigh had substantial help from unknown co-conspirators in planning the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.
Their questions have raised the possibility that circumstantial evidence prosecutors say links Nichols to the plot may have other, less-sinister explanations.
The technique has ruffled prosecutors. During cross-examination of a Kansas quarry worker, prosecutor Sandra Elliott complained to Judge Steven Taylor that defense attorneys were suggesting a wider bombing conspiracy before the state had even rested.
Prosecutors say Nichols burglarized the quarry in October 1994 and took blasting caps and detonation cord used in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 persons.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Creekmore Wallace asked the worker, Allen Radtke, about the identities of other possible suspects he gave to investigators.
The technique is a way to score points with jurors and raise the specter of reasonable doubt, said Larry Pozner, co-author of “Cross Examination: Science and Techniques” and past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
“If the cross-examination of the government’s case demonstrates reasonable doubt, that’s the death knell of the government’s case,” Mr. Pozner said.
Defense attorneys who ask tough questions are not trying to trick the state’s witnesses, Mr. Pozner said.
“It’s not about gamesmanship. It’s about getting the truth out,” he said.
Jack Dempsey Pointer, past president of the defense lawyers association, said cross-examination gives defense attorneys “an opportunity to bring out points that the prosecution may have overlooked — or didn’t want you to know.”
Testimony in the case resumes today.
Nichols, 49, is already serving a life prison sentence, convicted in 1997 of federal charges of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy charges for the deaths of eight federal law enforcement officers.
In Oklahoma, he is charged with 161 counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of the other 160 victims and the fetus of one victim. The state prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
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