Joint Bombing Trial Unfair, Judge Is Told

Timothy J. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols could suffer from guilt-by-association if they are tried together, a judge was told as the Oklahoma City bombing defendants pressed for separate trials. Charles Campbell, a former judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, testified in Denver that it is unfair to ask jurors to sort out separate defenses. “The jury tends to want to find at least one person who is going to be assessed the death penalty,” said Campbell, a witness called by Nichols’ lawyers. McVeigh and Nichols are charged with murder and conspiracy in the April 19, 1995, bombing that killed 168 people and injured more than 500.