wfn.org | Nichols Jury Angers Bombing Victim's Wife

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)]

Reply-to: owner-umethnews@ecunet.org (United Methodist News list)
"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (536
notes).

Note 534 by UMNS on Jan. 8, 1998 at 16:23 Eastern (6223 characters).

Contact: Tim Tanton					 7(10-21-34-71B){534} 	
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5473 	Jan. 8, 1998

Nichols jury took case too lightly,
wife of Oklahoma City blast victim says

by Tim Tanton*

Anne Marshall, whose husband died in the Oklahoma City bomb blast, had hoped
for a sense of closure with the trial of conspirator Terry Nichols.
Instead, she's angry –- not just at Nichols and convicted bomber Timothy
McVeigh, but at the jury that heard the most recent trial. She's incensed at
the jurors for their mixed verdict in the Nichols case and their inability to
punish the man who helped McVeigh plan the bombing.
"I am really disappointed that the jury could not render a death penalty," she
said. "I'm kind of angry about it.
 "I really wasn't angry until I saw the forewoman who was interviewed last
night (Jan. 7) on television," Marshall said. "That really irritated me --
that they can take this so lightly and they can take it nonchalantly."
In a press conference, forewoman Niki Deutchman criticized the prosecutors'
case and said she could understood the anti-government hatred behind the
bombings.
Nichols was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy to build
the bomb that obliterated the Alfred P. Murrah building on April 19, 1995.
However, after two days of deliberation, the jurors failed to decide on a
penalty. Now, Judge Richard Matsch must choose Nichols' punishment, and the
stiffest sentence he can render is life in prison.
"If they had really listened to the evidence, I think they would have had to
come back with a guilty on all counts," Marshall said of the jurors. And they
wouldn't have come back with a verdict of manslaughter, she added.
"I think now that justice has been miscarried in a capricious way, and the
demeanor of those jurors just appalls me," she said.
The jurors at McVeigh's trial were attentive to the evidence and the
arguments, she said. "But in the Nichols trial, I saw a lot of disengagement."
The Nichols jurors didn't lean forward to listen, and some gazed off into
space, she said. "The body language did not project that they were into
hearing the evidence."
And the verdicts were incongruous, she said.
"None of them went together with the way the evidence was presented."
She also believes the holiday season influenced the jury. 
"I think that at Christmas time we are always more forgiving," she said.
"We're more accommodating, and we have that sense of 'I've got to give.' I
think the season of the year. . .had a huge impact on that jury."
Marshall's husband, Raymond Johnson, was among the 168 people killed in the
explosion. Marshall is associate general secretary of the United Methodist
Church's Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns in New
York.
She was among 70 witnesses who were to testify during the penalty phase of
Nichols' trial. However, Matsch stopped the testimony after hearing 55
witnesses, and Marshall was among the handful who weren't called to the stand.
"I really would have liked to have told my husband's story to the jury and for
Nichols to have heard it," she said. "I feel it was very important for that to
happen, and it didn't happen."
Marshall's husband was working as a Social Security volunteer when the blast
occurred.
"He was a very kind and gentle person who always wanted to help people,"
Marshall said. She takes consolation from the fact that he died helping
people.
Nichols, she said, "was a part of the death sentence that he gave all the
families. My husband's never coming back, and (Nichols) can never replace what
he took away from me."
The trial failed to give her a sense of closure.
"Without him being found fully guilty, it's going to be hard for me because
there is always going to be this question of why," she said.
During the trial, Marshall felt no emotion at all for Nichols -– unlike
McVeigh, whom she pitied.
"I could look at him and pity him because he was just a poor, pitiful soul,"
Marshall said of McVeigh.
 	Knowing McVeigh's plans, Nichols should have reported them to someone or
taken action to prevent the bombing, Marshall said. Based on the evidence, she
believes Nichols played a larger role in the bombing than people think.
"He's just as guilty as McVeigh was driving the truck up to the building."
The McVeigh and Nichols trials helped Marshall resolve her inner conflict over
the death penalty. She had struggled with her feelings about it in the past.
"Even though someone else dies, it doesn't replace the person that you lost,"
she explained.
However, the bombing was a totally different situation, she said. She fears
that not giving Nichols the death penalty will send the wrong message to
paramilitary groups and other terrorists.
"We cannot let this go on," she said. "This is going to send a strong message
that we do not take domestic terrorism seriously in this country."
Marshall is still hoping for closure. Oklahoma authorities have indicated that
they will try to bring state murder charges against McVeigh and Nichols for
the 160 deaths that weren't included in the federal cases.
In the meantime, Marshall is focusing on her work and  special interests -–
Native Christian spirituality, victims' rights, and the battle against
domestic terrorism.
Throughout the ordeals of the last three years, Marshall has relied on her
faith and support from her colleagues, the Native American community, her
United Methodist church family, and particularly the Oklahoma Missionary
Conference.
	"If it had not been for them, I would not have made it through," she said.
"There were days when I could really feel the presence of God, and there were
days when I felt abandoned."
	It didn't matter that people didn't have the right words to say, she said.
What was important was that they were there.
	"That really helped me, knowing that I had the presence of people and God.
"For me, it was a real test," she said. "To me, it was like, 'Well Anne,
you're a Christian, you've tried to live a good life,' but I'm still not
exempt from tragedies in life.
"Somehow, God carries you through those days when you think you can't make
it."
# # #
*Tanton is news editor of the United Methodist News Service.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 This article sent to both the umethnews list <umethnews-request@ecunet.org>
 and also to the Worldwide Faith News list wfn-news <majordomo@wfn.org>
 Look at the header files to figure out which this is.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------