Judge Won’t Move Nichols’ Bomb Trial

DENVER —  A federal judge refused Friday to move the trial of Terry L. Nichols to San Francisco from Denver, where co-defendant Timothy J. McVeigh was convicted and sentenced to death for the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

U.S. District Judge Richard P. Matsch said Nichols can get a fair trial in Denver because any potential jurors tainted by what they saw during McVeigh’s trial could be discovered through extensive questioning.

Jury selection for Nichols is scheduled to begin Sept. 29.

His lawyers had asked Matsch to move the trial to San Francisco, contending that it would be unfair to ask Colorado jurors to hear a second trial in the deadly bombing.

The Nichols defense also argued that media coverage of McVeigh’s trial precluded Nichols from receiving a fair trial in Denver.

But prosecutors argued that potential jurors in Colorado can be just as fair to Nichols as they were to McVeigh.

“Nichols’ blatant attempt to pick the forum least likely to return a death sentence should not be countenanced,” prosecutor Sean Connelly said.

He argued that San Francisco is known as “a liberal, anti-death penalty jurisdiction.”

Matsch ruled Friday that the defense “argument is contrary to the court’s experience in jury selection in the trial of Mr. McVeigh.”

“The court denied a motion to delay that trial and expressed confidence that a fair-minded jury could be selected. . . . That confidence was not misplaced.

“The same procedures, with appropriate modifications, will be followed in jury selection for the trial of Mr. Nichols.”

Nichols is charged with murder, conspiracy and weapons-related counts in the April 19, 1995, bombing that killed 168 people.

If convicted, he faces the death penalty.

A jury convicted McVeigh of identical charges June 2. He was formally sentenced Thursday.