Life goes on in McAlester after Terry Nichols trial

Monday, June 14th 2004, 5:36 pm

By: News On 6

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) -- The beep of security machines and crowds of out-of-towners were gone from the courthouse Monday as life returned to normal in this southeast Oklahoma community after the conclusion of the murder trial of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols.

Workers in hardhats used heavy machinery to remove concrete barriers that ringed the Pittsburg County Courthouse like a fortress wall for 31/2 months while Nichols was tried on 161 counts of first-degree murder for the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.

"We're trying to get back to normal," Chief Sheriff's Deputy Richard Sexton, in charge of courthouse security during the trial, said as workers hoisted barricades that had blocked off one lane of Carl Albert Parkway, named for the former U.S. House Speaker from nearby Bugtussle.

Also gone was the hassle of passing through security X-ray and magnetometer devices that greeted courthouse workers and visitors during the trial. The machines screened as many as 1,700 lawyers, spectators, reporters and courthouse employees each day, Sexton said.

Although their pace was slower, law enforcement officials found it hard to let go of the heightened security presence they kept throughout the trial.

"I'm still kind of wired up," Sexton said. "I'm kind of at a loss as to where to begin."

The trial ended on Friday when Nichols' 12-member jury deadlocked on whether Nichols should be sentenced to death for the April 19, 1995, bombing. Jurors convicted him of 161 counts of murder, arson and conspiracy on May 26.

The jury's decision means Nichols, 49, will automatically be sentenced to life in prison for the bombing. Judge Steven Taylor has scheduled a sentencing hearing for Aug. 9.

It's the second time Nichols' has been spared a death sentence on bombing-related charges. Nichols was sentenced to life in a federal prison after a jury could not agree whether to sentence him to death for the deaths of eight federal agents in the bombing.

Oklahoma prosecutors charged Nichols for the other 160 people who died and one victim's fetus. Nichols' jury sentenced him to life in prison without parole for the count involving the fetus.

The chief prosecutor in the case, Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane, said Nichols may be returned to federal custody soon after he is sentenced on the state charges.

Lane told reporters following the trial that the government was interested in getting him back to serve out his federal sentence if the state did not secure a death penalty. Nichols has been in state custody since January 2000.

The end of the trial meant a drop in business for some downtown merchants including The Hub, a restaurant on the other side of Carl Albert Parkway that did a brisk lunch business during the trial.

"The last week was really busy," said proprietor Lynn Edwards. "It was real nice. Just locals now."

The end of the trial will give those locals a chance to assess their role in Nichols' state trial for the bombing that killed 168 people and remains the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.

While many residents expected Nichols to be sentenced to death, Edwards said the churchgoing members of Nichols' jury struggled with the decision to send him to death row.

"They view that as a tough decision. I'm not surprised," he said. "It's a difficult thing to put a man to death."

In the courtroom where Nichols was tried, empty tissue boxes littered the floor where bombing survivors and members of victims' families left them on the trial's final day. The blue checkered cushions they sat on were stacked in piles on the wooden courtroom benches.

Following the longest trial of his judicial career, Taylor was back in his office early Monday. On the floor near his desk were files and piles of court exhibits from the Nichols' trial.

"I'm spending the day getting ready to go back to my normal docket," said Taylor, who was appointed by the state Supreme Court to preside over the trial.

He moved the trial to his home court last year over concerns that extensive publicity would make it impossible to find a fair jury in Oklahoma City.

The lights were out and no one answered the telephone at the McAlester office maintained by Oklahoma County prosecutors during the trial. On nearby Choctaw Street, Nichols' defense attorney, Brian Hermanson, was back at work in an office cluttered with notes and binders of evidence.

"It's hard to believe it's over," Hermanson said. "It's hard to believe that Terry is finally over this stage of his life."