Report: Nichols Fingered McVeigh

DENVER: Oklahoma City bombing suspect Terry Nichols desperately tried to save his own skin by providing the FBI with statements incriminating Timothy McVeigh, according to an official interrogation summary obtained by TIME magazine. Correspondent Patrick Cole reports in this week’s TIME that Nichols said McVeigh was capable of building a bomb on his own, and that McVeigh had said he had “something in the works” three days before the attack. Nichols told the FBI he didn’t learn of the bombing until the following day, because his TV reception was lousy.

As jury selection for the Nichols trial starts Monday, the case against him is not airtight, since no one claims to have seen Nichols and McVeigh actually building the bomb. Unlike McVeigh, Nichols has not been placed in Oklahoma City on the day of the bombing, and some observers believe that may save him from the death penalty.