PONCA CITY, Okla. (AP) – Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols will not appeal his state murder convictions for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, his attorney said Thursday.

In a brief statement, attorney Brian Hermanson said Nichols did not want to prolong the pain for victims’ families.

“As he said in his sentencing, Terry sincerely hopes that the final conclusion of this case will be the beginning of a long-awaited healing process for all those impacted by the bombing.”

Nichols’ attorneys had been advising him against appealing his 161 state murder convictions, because an appeal could mean a new trial and another opportunity for prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

Nichols is already serving life in prison without parole on federal charges for the April 19, 1995, bombing, which killed 168 people. Nichols was spared the death penalty for a second time when his state jury deadlocked on a sentence.

Nichols, 49, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in the late 1990s on federal involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy convictions for the deaths of eight federal law enforcement officers after jurors at that trial also deadlocked on whether to sentence Nichols to death.

The state charges are for the other 160 victims and one victim’s fetus.

Timothy McVeigh was convicted of federal murder charges and executed in 2001 for carrying out the blast.


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