The Associated Press
McALESTER, Okla. (AP) -- Members of tactical teams from three police agencies recently participated in special training at the courthouse where Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols will be tried on state murder charges in a little more than a month.
“We’ve got people from Muskogee and Tulsa down here training with us,” McAlester police Detective Sgt. Martin Stites said. “We’ve worked with them in the past in tactical situations and training.”
And if an emergency arises that requires more than one special team, Tulsa and Muskogee have the closest large police departments that could come to McAlester’s aid, he said.
The goal is to make sure the Pittsburg County Courthouse remains secure.
“We’re trying to be proactive and working to eliminate the possibility of someone taking over the courthouse or interfering with proceedings,” Stites said.
Security costs for the trial that is to begin March 1 have been estimated at more than $500,000 for measures that include guarding and housing Nichols, providing around-the-clock security at the courthouse and hiring a guard to begin screening all mail bound for the courthouse beginning Feb. 1.
Nichols faces 161 state counts of first-degree murder for his role in the April 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Nichols is serving life in prison on federal convictions for his part in the bombing and the deaths of eight federal agents.
The state trial is for the deaths of others killed in the bombing, including a fetus whose died in the explosion.