Terry Lynn Nichols (born April 1, 1955) is an American domestic terrorist who was convicted for conspiring with Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing plot.

[2] Prior to his incarceration, he held a variety of short-term jobs, working as a farmer, grain elevator manager, real estate salesman, and ranch hand.

He shared a cell block that is commonly referred to as "Bomber's Row" with Ramzi Yousef and Eric Rudolph,[11][12] as well as Ted Kaczynski until his transfer in 2021.

During the marriage, Nichols engaged in a succession of part-time and short-term jobs: carpentry work, managing a grain elevator, and selling life insurance and real estate.

[5] The two were later stationed together at Fort Riley in Junction City, Kansas,[5] where they met and became friends with their future accomplice, Michael Fortier.

[4][16] Nichols and Torres frequently visited the Philippines, where she was attending a local college working on a degree in physical therapy.

Nichols left a cryptic note and a package of documents with his ex-wife, Lana (Walsh) Padilla, prior to one of his many visits to the Philippines.

Upon returning from the visit to learn that she had prematurely opened a letter instructing her what to do in the event of his death, he made a series of telephone calls to a Cebu City boarding house.

[29] In February 1992, he attempted to renounce his US citizenship by writing to the local county clerk in Michigan, stating that the political system was corrupt, and declaring himself a "non resident alien".

[4][5] Several months later, he appeared in court and tried to avoid responsibility for some of his credit card bills (he owed approximately $40,000 altogether), refusing to come before the bench, and shouting at the judge that the government had no jurisdiction over him.

[4] In December 1991, Nichols invited McVeigh to join him in Michigan and help him out selling military surplus at gun shows.

[32] In the fall of 1993, Nichols and McVeigh, who were living at the farm,[5] became business partners, selling weapons and military surplus at gun shows.

[16] In March 1994, he sent a letter to the clerk of Marion County, Kansas, saying he was not subject to the laws of the U.S. government and asked his employer not to withhold any federal taxes from his check.

[17][32] In late September or early October, Nichols and McVeigh stole dynamite and blasting caps from a nearby quarry.

[17][32] Nichols began purchasing large quantities of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and storing it in three rental storage units.

[5] McVeigh remarked about Nichols's and Fortier's partial withdrawal from the plot, saying they "were men who liked to talk tough, but in the end their bitches and kids ruled.

[5] The search turned up blasting caps, detonating cords, ground ammonium nitrate, barrels made of plastic similar to fragments found at the bombing site, 33 firearms, anti-government warfare literature,[5] a receipt for ammonium nitrate fertilizer with McVeigh's fingerprints on it,[17] a telephone credit card that McVeigh had used when he was shopping for bomb-making equipment, and a hand-drawn map of downtown Oklahoma City.

[34] Fortier testified that Nichols and McVeigh had expressed anti-government feelings and conspired to blow up the Murrah federal building.

[35] She said her husband had been living a double life prior to the bombing, using aliases, renting storage lockers and lying that he had broken off his relationship with McVeigh.

[37] The jury deliberated for 41 hours over a period of six days, acquitting Nichols on December 24, 1997, of actually detonating the bomb, but convicting him of conspiring with McVeigh to use a weapon of mass destruction, a capital offense.

[32] After the penalty hearing concluded, the jury deliberated for 13 hours over two days on whether to give Nichols a death sentence, but deadlocked.

[10] U.S. District Court Judge Richard P. Matsch then had the option of giving Nichols a sentence of life imprisonment or a lesser term.

"This case has always been about 161 men, women and children and an unborn baby having the same rights to their day in court as eight federal law enforcement officers", Lane said.

Their star witness was Fortier, who said Nichols was intimately involved in the conspiracy and had helped obtain bomb ingredients including fertilizer that was mixed with high octane fuel.

[19] During the closing arguments, the prosecutor argued for the death penalty, stating that 168 people had died so that Nichols and McVeigh "could make a political statement".

The defense argued that Nichols had been controlled by a "dominant, manipulative" McVeigh and urged jurors not to be persuaded by the "flood of tears" of the victims who testified.

[10] With the death penalty no longer an option, Nichols spoke publicly for the first time in the proceedings, making a lengthy statement laced with religious references to Judge Steven W. Taylor.

[48] In a May 2005 letter that he wrote to a relative of two of the victims, Nichols claimed that an Arkansas gun dealer also conspired in the 1995 bombing plot by donating some of the explosives that were used.

[49] In a 2006 letter requesting that a judge give his son a light sentence for assault with a deadly weapon, battery of a police officer, and possession of a stolen vehicle, Nichols admitted his participation in the Oklahoma City bombing but said that McVeigh had forced and intimidated him into cooperating.

In the same affidavit, Nichols admitted that he and McVeigh stole eight cases of the gel type explosive Tovex from a Marion, Kansas quarry, some of which was later used in the Oklahoma City truck bomb.