December 2-3, 1997: Oklahoma City Bombing Conspirator’s Defense Attempts to Place McVeigh with ‘John Doe No. 2’ and Not Nichols

The defense in the trial of Terry Nichols (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995 and November 3, 1997) opens with an array of witnesses designed to cast doubt on Nichols’s alleged participation in the Oklahoma City bombing plot with convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh (see June 2, 1997 and June 11-13, 1997). Three witnesses testify that in the days before the bomb destroyed an Oklahoma City federal building, they saw McVeigh in the company of a man who has become known as “John Doe No. 2,” a person that some believe conspired with McVeigh to build and deliver the bomb. Prosecutors believe that “John Doe No. 2” was an Army soldier who had no involvement with McVeigh (see April 15, 1995, April 18, 1995, April 20, 1995, April 21, 1995, April 29, 1995, and June 14, 1995). Defense lawyers assert that McVeigh conspired with “John Doe No. 2” and not their client. Eldon Elliott, who owns the Junction City, Kansas, shop where McVeigh rented the Ryder truck used to deliver the bomb (see April 15, 1995), testifies that he rented the Ryder truck to McVeigh, and that when McVeigh picked up the truck on April 17 (see 5:00 a.m. April 18, 1995 and 8:15 a.m. and After, April 18, 1995), he was accompanied by a man who was not Nichols. Estella Weigel, a health worker, then testifies that she was driving south on Interstate 135 near McPherson, Kansas, sometime between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. on April 18 when she had to slow down for a large Ryder truck following closely behind a beige car that “reminded me of my sister’s ‘78 Mercury.” McVeigh had just bought a similar car, which prosecutors say he used for his getaway (see April 13, 1995). Weigel noted that the car had no license plates, and later realized that the driver resembled the sketch of “John Doe No. 2.” There were two men in the truck, she says, neither of whom were Nichols. Prosecutors say Nichols and McVeigh were at that time on their way to Geary County State Fishing Lake to assemble the bomb. A third witness, obstetrical nurse Mary Martinez, tells the jury she saw McVeigh driving a large Ryder truck in Junction City on the morning of April 18; a man she thought was “Mexican” was in the passenger seat. Under cross-examination, Martinez admits that her story has changed dramatically: she originally described a smaller Ryder truck with a red-haired driver, and said the passenger stood up in the cab of the truck. [Washington Post, 12/4/1997; New York Times, 12/4/1997; Denver Post, 12/24/1997]