Restored archive. The original History Commons is no longer online; this is a read-only edition of its timelines. Content is licensed CC BY-NC-SA.

May 11, 1995: Accused Oklahoma Bombing Conspirator’s Brother Charged with Conspiracy to Build Explosives

1995-05-11

A federal grand jury in Detroit charges James Nichols (see December 22 or 23, 1988, April 21, 1995 and After, and April 25, 1995) with conspiracy to build explosives. James is the brother of Terry Nichols (see 3:15 p.m. and After, April 21-22, 1995 and April 24, 1995), accused of conspiring with Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995 and April 21, 1995). The charges against James Nichols do not directly accuse him of conspiring with his brother and McVeigh to build the Oklahoma City bomb; the three-count indictment, brought by Assistant US Attorney Robert Cares, applies only to crimes Nichols is alleged to have committed in Michigan. It also refers to “other persons, whose names are known and unknown to jury” who joined in the conspiracy. The indictment says the conspiracy stretched from 1988 until federal agents raided Nichols’s farm on April 21, two days after the Oklahoma City bombing, and says the government has reason to believe Nichols had “prior knowledge” of the bombing. The indictment allows law enforcement authorities to keep Nichols in custody and to cancel an upcoming hearing for Nichols’s possible release. Nichols is being held pending arraignment before a federal magistrate. The indictment is based largely on testimony from Nichols’s neighbors (see April 21, 1995 and After), and is apparently similar to evidence provided in a criminal complaint filed in late April (see April 25, 1995). The indictment adds new details, such as the allegation that in 1994 he and his brother made and stored grenades at the Nichols farm, and in 1992 the brothers and McVeigh experimented with making and detonating bombs made of “readily available materials” like brake fluid. It also cites a letter McVeigh wrote James Nichols that said in part, “Keep me posted on any ‘trouble,’” a statement Cares interprets as pertaining to the bombing. [New York Times, 5/12/1995; Serrano, 1998, pp. 235]