Bombing Conspirator Loses Trial Bid

Tuesday, December 19th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DENVER (AP) â€” Convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols lost his bid for a new trial after a federal appeals court ruled the FBI did not withhold crucial evidence.

The court also rejected Nichols' request to look at more of the 43,000 ``lead sheets'' developed by the government during the investigation, saying Nichols failed to prove they would help his case.

``Lead sheets'' are used to record information taken during informal interviews or from callers.

The three-judge panel at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was troubled by government decisions not to turn over some evidence contained in the FBI lead sheets. However, the judges agreed with the government and a district court judge that the information would not have changed the outcome of Nichols' trial.

Nichols, convicted of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy charges, is serving a life sentence in federal prison. Separately, Timothy McVeigh was convicted of murder and weapons counts and sentenced to death.

The April 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City killed 168 people and injured hundreds more.

Nichols' attorneys argued that it is not for the government to decide the credibility or usefulness of the lead sheets, and the judges agreed.

``Questions of credibility are properly for the jury, not for the prosecution,'' the judges said.

However, they agreed with the government's argument that none of the evidence, most of which dealt with the elusive ``John Doe 2'' some witnesses said they saw with McVeigh, proved that Nichols was not involved in the bombing.