"I doubt okie state prosecutors really want to open this can of worms."
How so? Nichols remains guilty -- an active conspirator in the same plot. We would have merely discovered there were more conpirators, and different motivations, than had been known heretofore. Hardly a justification for a reversal.
Meanwhile, the Okie state prosecutors have the death penalty to hammer Nichols with. Which might inspire Nichols to unburden himself of some vital information...
If something can inspire those prosecutors to try to get the truth out of Nichols.
imo, the federal trial of nichols the jury came as close as you can get to "jury nullification" without actually letting him walk.
the reason for verdict could be that tiger introduced enough evidence of other conspirators to cause the jury to have reasonable doubt about the basis of the prosecutions case which had mcveigh & nichols acting alone.
although it has been obvious to many of us that there were numerous co-conspirators (ME, domestic, and gummit) evidence of this, including video surveillance tapes that would identify other perps has been deliberately & admittedly withheld or destroyed.
to allow padilla's testimony re: ME/terrorist participation would contradict the "official gummit" line.
a sharp lawyer could certainly use this to get the federal action declared a mistrial.
who knows what nichols real involvement was? I'm of the belief that nichols may have been a very minor player in the grand scheme of things.
I believe there are several guilty parties still on the streets killing or ready to kill again. I believe the gummit knows exactly who these people are and is doing nothing to bring them to justice.
why?