The man convicted of helping plan the Oklahoma bombing, Terry Nichols, looks certain to escape the death penalty after the jury in his trial failed to agree a sentence.

The jury had spent two days trying to decide whether Nichols should face the death penalty.

But they failed to reach a decision and have been discharged by the judge. He will now decide the sentence.

Federal Judge Richard Matsch had previously told the jury that he could impose a sentence of life in prison if the they failed to decide between life and death.

The jurors looked weary after their deliberations. At least two were in tears as they listened to the judge before being dismissed.

"I do not want you to feel that you have in any way failed to meet your responsibility," Judge Matsch told the jurors.

"Everybody who has worked on this case knows the stress and strains that are with you," he said.

Nichols was convicted last December of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter in the Oklahoma bombing, in which 168 people died.

Nichols' co-conspirator, Timothy McVeigh, who served with him in the US army, was sentenced to death last June.
 

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