NICHOLS hearing delayed

<br>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A hearing for Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols was postponed a week on Tuesday to allow more time for newly discovered FBI files to be delivered to state prosecutors.

Wednesday, May 30th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A hearing for Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols was postponed a week on Tuesday to allow more time for newly discovered FBI files to be delivered to state prosecutors.

The hearing, scheduled for Wednesday, was postponed until June 6, said Cheryl Camp, a spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of the Courts.

District Judge Ray Dean Linder postponed Nichols' May 21 preliminary hearing after the FBI revealed that it had failed to deliver thousands of documents to prosecutors in the federal trials of Nichols and convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh.

A new date for Nichols' preliminary hearing has not been set.

Nichols is charged with 160 state counts of first-degree murder for the April 19, 1995, federal building bombing that killed 168 people and injured more than 500. State prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.

A federal jury convicted Nichols, 46, on federal involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy charges and he was sentenced to life in prison.

McVeigh was convicted on federal murder charges and sentenced to death.