Judge Denies Motion To Decide Nichols’ Fate Bombing Penalty Phase Hears Of A Loving Husband, Grand Dad

After days of sitting stoically through emotional testimony from relatives of victims and survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing, Terry Nichols repeatedly wiped his eyes Friday as his wife and former wife spoke lovingly about his role as a devoted husband and father.

They were two of only nine witnesses called Friday by the defense, which, in a surprise move, opened its penalty phase case and then rested after 3-1/2 hours.

Marife Nichols, the first defense witness, said Nichols made flash cards in prison to teach the alphabet to his daughter, Nicole. She also described how he made greeting cards for his children colored by toothpaste.

Lana Padilla, Nichols’ wife from 1982 to 1989, broke down as she read letters Nichols wrote to their son Josh telling him how much he missed him. The letters expressed Nichols’ pride in his son and encouraged him to do his best in school.

Padilla described how Nichols loved Josh, now 15, and cared for her two sons like a father. Nichols, she said, was the most important person in Josh’s life. “He was a full-time father. … Always in his soft-spoken way he would teach Josh - always giving him something of substance.”

But under questioning by prosecutor Larry Mackey, Padilla acknowledged that Josh said his father taught him how to build bombs.

As he listened to their testimony, Nichols repeatedly bowed his head, removed his glasses and wiped his eyes with a white handkerchief. It was only the second time during the two-month trial that Nichols expressed emotion. He also cried when Padilla offered similar testimony earlier, before the case had gone to the jury.

Earlier Friday, before the jury entered the courtroom, lead defense attorney Michael Tigar asked U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch to decide the sentence himself. He argued that inflammatory testimony from some of the 55 prosecution witnesses had tainted the jury.

Matsch denied the motion.

Nichols was convicted last month for his role in the conspiracy to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The blast on April 19, 1995, killed 168 people and injured 500 others.