Oklahoma plotter spared execution

Nichols could face a life sentence without possibility of parole

An accomplice in the Oklahoma bombing has been spared the death penalty after a jury which found him guilty of 161 murders deadlocked over his sentence.

Terry Nichols was already serving a life sentence for his role in the 1995 bombing. Timothy McVeigh was executed in 2001 for setting off the blast.

Under Oklahoma law, a judge cannot issue a death sentence if the jury fails to agree on the punishment.

The outcome is a blow to prosecutors who had been seeking the death penalty.

It is the second time they have been denied the death penalty for Nichols.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998 for conspiracy to bomb the Alfred P Murrah federal building in Oklahoma and for the manslaughter of eight security officers in the subsequent blast.

Disappointment

But a total of 168 people died that day, not including the unborn child of a pregnant woman whom prosecutors also say must be added to the tally of victims.

In 1999, Oklahoma prosecutors charged Nichols with 161 counts of murder, with the goal of getting the death penalty.

The attack was one of the deadliest on US soil in peacetime

He was found guilty on 26 May. The same jury that convicted him deliberated for three days on the sentence before admitting they had reached deadlock.

Judge Steven Taylor will rule in August whether Nichols will receive a life sentence with the possibility of parole, or without.

Several relatives of the victims told reporters after the verdict that they were disappointed and did not think justice had been done.

Prosecutors argued that Nichols had financed the blast and obtained key components of the bomb. "He contributed more than Timothy McVeigh," said prosecutor Lou Keel. "It was him, he had the money."

Defence lawyers alleged that McVeigh had set up Nichols to take the blame for the parts played by other unknown co-conspirators.