Terry Nichols' Judge OKs Elohim City Witnesses

Whoisjohndoe2.com, citing Associated Press ^ | 11/18/2003 | J.M. Berger

[JohnBerger]

Defense lawyers will be allowed to call witnesses associated with the Elohim City white supremacist compound in the state murder trial of Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Judge Steven Taylor rejected a prosecution motion to disallow 30 witnesses, including some federal government witnesses and various people associated with white supremacist groups and the Elohim City compound. Persistent allegations have tied Timothy McVeigh to Elohim City and other loosely affiliated white supremacist groups over the last several years.

A series of reports by Associated Press reporter John Solomon earlier this year said that the FBI failed to thoroughly investigate claims that McVeigh was tied to Elohim City, despite phone records and some eyewitness testimony suggesting a connection. Solomon also reported that federal prosecutors rejected a plea bargain offer which would have connected McVeigh to a white supremacist bank robbery gang operating in the West and Midwest before the bombing.

Prosecutors said they would appeal the judge's ruling.

[JohnBerger]

Next hearing is Dec. 1...

[JohnBerger]

Ping...

[LS]

Is this going to open up the Arab connection again?

[Poohbah]

What does Nichols gain from having these witnesses called?

[Poohbah]

Is this going to open up the Arab connection again?

I fail to see how that might tend to exonerate Nichols.

[JohnBerger]

*** Is this going to open up the Arab connection again?
** I fail to see how that might tend to exonerate Nichols.

On the first point, not necessarily, except in that a proven connection to Elohim would almost certainly lead to an FBI inspector's general audit of the entire OKC case... Again.

On the second point, proving McVeigh was connected to a larger conspiracy does two things for Nichols.

One, it allows him to argue that some witness sightings were of someone else, like John Doe 2, instead of being Nichols.

Two, if McVeigh was part of a larger conspiracy, then Nichols can argue that he isn't culpable *enough* to be guilty of capital murder, and thus eligible for the death penalty, which is the whole point of this second trial.

Nichols successfully made Argument Two in his federal trial; not the conspiracy point, but that he wasn't guilty of first degree murder, which is why he hasn't already been executed.

In my opinion, none of the theories about wider conspiracies in OKC exonerates Nichols or McVeigh in the least. I see the occasional characterization of these guys as "patsies," as if that somehow excuses them from knowingly taking part in mass murder. It doesn't.

jmb

[LS]

I wasn't suggesting it was. Many of the "conspiracy theorists," I think, have wrongly tried to exculpate both McVeigh and Nichols while (rightly) seeking to find out who else was involved. One does not exclude the other: I find it totally plausible that McVeigh and Nichols were idiot dupes who had some other help.

[buffyt]

I agree with you, I have thought so from the very first day. My friends are husband/wife doctors in OKC. Justine is a radiologist and David is anesthesiologist there. David said the worst part about it was all the glass. The patients had so much glass stuck in their bodies that the doctors and nurses cut their hands on the patients. When I think of that, I get upset all over again.

[syriacus]

Thanks for the update. There is so much other important news lately, that this could easily be missed.

[Arthur McGowan]

How is it that Bush/Ashcroft could have been allowed to execute McVeigh BEFORE the trial of McVeigh's alleged accomplice?

[Poohbah]

How is it that Bush/Ashcroft could have been allowed to execute McVeigh BEFORE the trial of McVeigh's alleged accomplice?

1. Nichols was tried on federal charges at the same time as McVeigh, and was convicted on most charges. He is now being tried on 165 charges of capital murder by the state of Oklahoma.

2. McVeigh was found guilty of a federal capital felony.

3. McVeigh waived his appeals shortly after Bush and Ashcroft took office.

There is no requirement to keep a scumbag alive any longer than his appellate process lasts.

[JohnBerger]

I would add to the above that the federal government was, and is, opposed to the state trial taking place, and they have not gone out of their way to accomodate the needs of the state prosecutors. In fact, quite the opposite, as previously reported:

http://angry.egoplex.com/2003_10_01_johndoearchive.html#106667379053048147

jmb