Nichols scheduled for arraignment early Wednesday

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The mother of federal building bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols wonders if her son will survive in the Oklahoma County Jail, where he was transferred in advance of his court arraignment.

Tuesday, February 1st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6


OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The mother of federal building bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols wonders if her son will survive in the Oklahoma County Jail, where he was transferred in advance of his court arraignment. "I just hope God is at work," Joyce Wilt told The Daily Oklahoman Monday from her Michigan home. "He's an innocent man. I just keep praying."

The 44-year-old was flown from a federal prison in Florence, Colo., to Oklahoma City early Monday and whisked to the high-rise jail near downtown in a caravan of seven patrol cars. He'll be housed in a gray, 108-square-foot single cell under the watchful eyes of county jailers, who will check on him every 15 minutes, officials said.

Nichols is scheduled to be arraigned on 160 counts of first-degree murder Wednesday morning, probably in the basement of the 13-story jail. He is charged in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The explosion, which occurred just blocks from the jail, resulted in 168 deaths and caused more than 500 injuries. Nichols was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of eight federal agents and conspiracy in a federal trial in Denver in 1997 and was sentenced to life in prison.

His co-conspirator, TimothyMcVeigh, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy has said he will seek the death penalty for Nichols. A policy for handling high-risk prisoners had been implemented at the jail, Sheriff John Whetsel said. "He'll be treated like any other high-risk prisoner. We have a job and a responsibility to do that," Whetsel said.

The move came as a surprise to Nichols' former wife, Lana Padilla, who had talked to Nichols about their 17-year-old son, Josh, possibly visiting him at the federal prison in Florence,Colo. "He hadn't any idea it would happen so fast," Ms. Padilla said from Las Vegas.

Roy Sells, whose wife was killed in the blast, was surprised, too, but pleased with the latest development in Nichols' case. "There's always a chance that sucker might walk," Sells said Monday. "Hell, laws change." But survivor Patti Hall, a credit union employee who suffered 40 broken bones, said she's against another trial. "Personally, I'm trying to get on with my life," Hall said. "I'm simply going to give it to God and let it go."

Hall also said a trial would be costly. Whetsel estimated the cost to the county if Nichols were held a year at the jail to be between $150,000 and $250,000.
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