June 23, 1995
From CNN Correspondent Robert Vito
The attorney for Oklahoma City bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh says he hasn't decided yet whether to fight a subpoena for a sample of his client's handwriting. The lawyer, Stephen Jones, says the federal grand jury investigating the case probably wants to compare McVeigh's handwriting with paperwork on the rental truck that allegedly carried the bomb -- but he says it's not McVeigh's job to provide evidence for the prosecution.
Meanwhile, the son of second suspect Terry Nichols is now talking about the ordeal he's been through. For 12 year-old Josh Nichols, the keepsakes of childhood are slightly different: football cards, football posters, and letters from a father in prison. His dad is Terry Nichols, one of two men charged in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Josh went to visit his father in Kansas the week before the incident. He left on the same evening the Ryder truck was rented to carry that fateful bomb to Oklahoma.
Could Josh have been the second person present with suspect Timothy McVeigh? His father says no. In a letter to his son, Nichols wrote, "I can't believe they would even think that, you know. Twelve years-old, and the guy looks what? Thirty? Forty?"
Whatever he told the FBI about that day, he won't tell us. Of the agency, Josh says, "They were nice at first, but then started getting on my nerves because they [kept] on begging. They think I know more, but I told them everything I know."
Josh, who lives with his mother in Las Vegas, was close to his father. Family photos suggest happy days, days now shattered by the nation's worst terrorist attack. One picture (that we couldn't use on TV) shows Josh together with his dad and Timothy McVeigh at Niagara Falls -- on a trip not too long ago. The family won't discuss it.
Josh's mother says he has trouble sleeping at night. The boy remarks, "Every day I got to think about my dad and the bombing. How I, like, know Tim and everything. It's kinda' hard." Josh believes his father is innocent. "He loves children. He loves people. And he wouldn't do nothing like that."
Nichols' ex-wife, Lana Padilla, says she and her son are having to start life anew. "How do you cope with it all?" she asks. "Where do you go from here? It's really hard. I cry a lot. You know, I go [to the office] and try to get back to work, and [I] sit there and the tears come."
She says her real estate business in Las Vegas has lost clients because of her ex-husband's arrest. Her partner Kay Bignotti agrees: "They got scared. They called the agents and said, 'You gotta' take the signs down, we're afraid somebody's gonna' shoot at our house.'"
From prison, the father tells the son to keep his chin up. Josh shared this sample with us: "And don't forget your three R's -- reading, writing and arithmetic. Keep it up, you're doing great. Send me more letters."
The deadline for indicting McVeigh and Nichols will fall on the day Josh turns 13.
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