Fortier's Sentence Thrown Out
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday threw out Michael Fortier's 12-year sentence for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing, ruling that incorrect guidelines were used to determine the prison term.
A three-judge panel ordered a new sentencing hearing for Fortier, who pleaded guilty to failing to alert authorities to the bomb plot, helping Timothy McVeigh sell stolen weapons and lying to FBI agents about the bombing.
The judges ruled the federal district judge who sentenced Fortier, the government's key witness in the bombing case, erred when he used guidelines for first-degree murder sentences in determining the length of Fortier's term.
They said those guidelines can be used only if evidence demonstrated that Fortier acted with malice, or if the crime fell under felony-murder rules, and "neither circumstance is present in this case."
The court also rejected prosecution arguments that Fortier already received consideration for his cooperation with the government when he got a reduced sentence.
"All things considered, the district court should not have applied the first-degree murder guideline," the justices said.
Fortier spent some time with former Army buddies McVeigh and Terry Nichols as they roamed through several states to steal ingredients to carry out the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
But his Fortier's lawyers said McVeigh and Nichols never told their client how they planned to use the money raised from selling weapons at gun shows.
The blast killed 168 people and injured more than 500 others, the worst act of terrorism on U.S. soil.
Prosecutors maintained Fortier knew the money he and McVeigh raised by selling stolen weapons would be used to finance the bomb plot, a contention that Fortier has denied.
McVeigh was convicted of federal murder, conspiracy and weapons counts. He is appealing his jury-imposed death sentence.
Nichols was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy last year and sentenced to life imprisonment. A hearing on Nichols' bid for a new trial is set next week in U.S. District Court.