Terry Nichols Won’t Get Bail

Terry Nichols, one of the two men charged with the Oklahoma City bombing, was denied bail Friday by a U.S. judge who ruled that the defendant posed a risk to public safety and might flee the country.

The judge, David L. Russell, acted at a hearing at the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution where Nichols is confined.

The judge also ordered that the government not dispatch any more mental health professionals to interview Nichols without the court’s approval.

U.S. Attorney Patrick M. Ryan said after the hearing, “I told Judge Russell it had been reported that Nichols was very emotional, upset, crying and weeping” and that the counseling had been ordered to help calm him.

Nichols’ lawyer, however, said the counselor was “unbidden, unasked for and unwanted.”