Witnesses Testify For Nichols

Two people who lost loved ones in the Oklahoma City bombing testified Tuesday on behalf of Terry Nichols, recounting how they came to accept the deaths and reconcile their feelings about him.

Kathy Wilburn and Bud Welch have said they oppose the death penalty and do not want Nichols to die, although they were not permitted to say so Tuesday as part of their victim impact statements.

A 12-member jury begins deliberating Wednesday to decide whether Nichols should be sentenced to life in prison or be put to death by injection for the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

In closing arguments Tuesday, prosecutors belittled defense claims that Nichols is a changed man whose life should be spared.

"Terry Nichols is a terrorist," prosecutor Suzanne Lister said. "One hundred sixty-one men, women and children paid for Terry Nichols' political statement."

Nichols is already serving a life sentence for the deaths of eight federal agents in the bombing. He was convicted May 26 of 161 first-degree murder counts for the other victims, plus one fetus whose mother died in the blast.

Defense attorneys have argued that Nichols is a different person from the man he was more than nine years ago when the building was bombed. They have said he has become religious, corresponding with prayer partners and making holiday cards for his children, including his 21-year-old son, Joshua.

But Lister was skeptical. "Where are the Easter cards to Josh before he was caught and forced to stand trial?" she asked. "They don't exist. He has generated them for purposes of this proceeding."

Wilburn - whose grandsons, Chase and Colton Smith, died in the bombing - said she befriended members of Nichols' family during his federal trial. She said she has met with Nichols three times as well as with his former wives and Nichols' children.

Welch, a death penalty opponent whose daughter Julie died in the bombing, said he initially wanted vengeance for his daughter's death, but changed his mind after he met William McVeigh, father of Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for the bombing.

"This father had a love for his son in spite of what he had done," Welch said. "To my surprise, it released me."

On Monday, Todd McCarthy, whose father, James, was killed in the bombing, also testified for the defense, reading a statement that hinted at opposition to the death penalty.

McCarthy, a Catholic, said he and his father went to confession together on the Sunday before the bombing and that his father helped restore his faith in God.

"My dad is gone now, and there is nothing that can make that enormous loss whole," McCarthy said.

The Rev. Arthur Fowler, who operates a Colorado-based counseling ministry, testified that he frequently responds to biblical questions from Nichols' and that they discuss scriptures "in depth."

"There was a complete change in Terry Nichols," he said. "He wore several Bibles out. In his character, he's a different man."

By Tim Talley