March 16, 1994: Future Oklahoma City Bomber Asks to Be ‘Relieved of the Jurisdiction of the Federal Government’

Terry Nichols (see March 24, 1988 - Late 1990, December 22 or 23, 1988, and October 12, 1993 - January 1994), who has temporarily left his wife on his brother’s farm in Michigan after the tragic death of their young son (see November 22, 1993), is doing well as a ranch hand in Marion, Kansas (see February - September 30, 1994). The ranch owner, James C. Donahue, will later recall Nichols as a hard-working and reliable man, but somewhat odd in his political views. On March 16, Nichols submits an affidavit to the Marion County Attorney seeking to be relieved of the jurisdiction of the federal government; Nichols has once before attempted to renounce his US citizenship (see April 2, 1992 and After). The County Attorney will later say he “put it in my weirdos file.” Later this summer, Nichols will be visited by his old Army friend and ex-roommate Timothy McVeigh (see November 1991 - Summer 1992, February - July 1994, and April 19, 1995). McVeigh will spend several days on Donahue’s ranch in September helping Nichols move out. [New York Times, 5/28/1995; PBS Frontline, 1/22/1996] Donahue’s son Tim, who is Nichols’s supervisor on the ranch, will later tell investigators that Nichols has become increasingly vehement in his anti-government rhetoric, and becomes more so as time goes on. “[H]e often talked about government being too big and too much power, and that he felt that the government needed to be overthrown and that Thomas Jefferson had written that it was our duty to overthrow the government when it did get too powerful.” [New York Times, 12/24/1997] Nichols will later take part in the Oklahoma City bombing with McVeigh (see April 19, 1995).