Nichols wants charges dropped

By Howard Pankratz
Denver Post Legal Affairs Writer

Sept. 25 Oklahoma City bombing suspect Terry Nichols wants the
charges against him dismissed because a federal grand jury continued its
investigation even after indictments were handed down.

Nichols, who is scheduled to go to trial Monday in U.S. District Court in
Denver, was indicted on 11 murder, conspiracy and weapons charges
along with codefendant Timothy McVeigh on Aug. 10, 1995.

Once a federal grand jury issues an indictment against a suspect, it can't
issue more subpoenas in an effort to obtain additional information on the
suspect. But, if the grand jury believes that others may have been involved
in the crime, it can issue subpoenas in an effort to obtain information
against suspected coconspirators.

Nichols' attorneys on Wednesday filed a motion to dismiss the indictment,
claiming prosecutors were using the grand jury as a tool to further
investigate Nichols and McVeigh, who was convicted of the charges in
June and sentenced to die.

Nichols' lead counsel, Michael Tigar and Ron Woods, said that in all their
years of practice as a defense lawyer and federal prosecutor they had
"never seen such an abuse of the grand jury subpoena process." They
claimed that the grand jury issued 480 subpoenas after indicting McVeigh
and Nichols. The attorneys claimed the documents related to McVeigh
and Nichols and not the investigation of any alleged coconspirators.

The harm to Nichols is that the "government has been using the grand jury
to expand its discovery rights," they said in the motion. It compromised
the fundamental fairness of the grand jury, they claimed.

And if U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch does not dismiss the
indictment, they argued, he should order prosecutors to provide the judge
with affidavits explaining the scope and purpose of each of the
postindictment grand jury subpoenas. That way, Nichols' attorneys
claimed, Matsch can determine whether the grand jury was interested in
new matters or was instead being "used as a tool of the prosecution to
uncover" evidence against Nichols and McVeigh.

If a violation is found, Matsch could disqualify the prosecutor's office that
misused the grand jury.

Government prosecutors declined comment on the allegation. And they
would not say whether the grand jury investigating the Oklahoma City
bombing continued to probe the possibility of other coconspirators.
McVeigh and Nichols are the only two people charged in connection with
the April 19, 1995, blast that killed 168 people.

Nichols also asked that the government be prohibited from exercising
what are called "peremptory challenges," which allow a prosecutor to
remove a prospective juror without stating a reason.