State trial hurting chances for DA assistant raises, Senate boss says

Thursday, March 16th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A state Senate leader said today he was just reflecting the views of legislators when he wrote a letter implying that the state murder trial for bombing conspirator Terry Nichols is hurting chances of assistant district attorneys getting pay raises.

Senate President Pro Tem Stratton Taylor, D-Claremore, said he was not telling anyone who to prosecute in his letter to Suzanne McClain Atwood, executive director of the Oklahoma District Attorneys Association.

"It's strictly a decision for them to make. It's their call," Taylor said. He recalled that last year, legislators in the House and Senate went on record in opposition to appropriating money for the Nichols trial.

He said that he is supportive of the prosecutor pay raises, "but with a tight budget, we simply have to prioritize."

In his March 3 letter, Taylor suggested prosecutors fight the planned trial. "I appreciate and share your concern about the need for increased funding for these services," he wrote.

"Here's how you can help. Ask your organization to encourage Bob Macy to forgo the prosecution of Terry Nichols. This will free up funds that can be used in other areas."

District attorneys want $2.5 million to raise their assistants' salaries. They say they need the money to keep assistants from going to more profitable jobs in private practice.

Macy, Oklahoma County's district attorney, first saw Taylor's letter Wednesday. "It upset me. I feel like it is improper," he told The Daily Oklahoman in a copyright story today. "In effect, the assistant DAs in the state are being held hostage ... because the Legislature takes exception to the way I run my office.

"Apparently, they can't get a pay raise unless the differences between me and Stratton Taylor are resolved."

Macy has charged Nichols with 160 counts of first-degree murder stemming from the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which resulted in 168 deaths.

Nichols, 44, was convicted in 1997 in federal court for the bombing conspiracy and the involuntary manslaughter of eight federal agents. He was sentenced to life in prison.

The state trial covers the 160 victims not covered in Nichols' federal trial. Macy said he is prosecuting Nichols again because he has promised victims' families to seek a death sentence. He said he won't back down.

"If a man's word isn't any good, the man's no good," he told The Oklahoman. Legislators are no longer directly funding the bombing case, but they could be forced to come up with extra money for judicial salaries because of defense costs.

Nichols' defense is being paid for from the Oklahoma County court fund -- a collection of fees from civil cases, criminal fines, bond forfeitures and other money paid to the court clerk. The money helps to pay judges.