Feds want to destroy Oklahoma City bomber's gun collection; he asks judge to OK sale
More than 20 years after one of the most notorious crimes of the 20th Century, the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City is still reverberating.
Although Terry Nichols was convicted in 1997 and sentenced to life without parole in the blast that killed 168 people, a federal judge is only now being asked to decide what to do with roughly a dozen firearms that were seized from his home.
The feds want to destroy the guns and reimburse Nichols for their fair market value, the Associated Press reports. Nichols wants to sell them at auction.
While selling them would not directly benefit Nichols, he “should not be able to obtain more than the fair market value for his property simply because of his status as a domestic terrorist and the notoriety of the crimes he committed,” the government said in a court document.
However, Nichols argued in a handwritten filing that he wants to “do what’s right,’ and to utilize those assets in the best possible way for the greatest benefit, not for him, but for others, including the OKC victims,” referring to the restitution that would be paid as a result of the sale.
See also:
CNN (1997): “Nichols convicted of some charges in Oklahoma City bombing”
