Jim Denny makes an unlikely advocate for Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols. His two children still suffer from injuries received when the explosion ripped through the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

For his role in the terrorist attack, Mr. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without parole. But on March 1, he will face a new trial on state murder charges - and nearly nine years after the bombing, many Oklahomans say enough is enough.

"The federal government did a great job trying both McVeigh and Nichols," says Mr. Denny from his home in Oklahoma City. "But this state trial is the biggest waste of money and waste of time. There comes a time when we have to let go."

Denny is not alone. In a recent poll sponsored by the Tulsa World, 70 percent of those surveyed opposed a state trial, which has already cost taxpayers $4 million. The resistance isn't just about money, say mental-health experts; it's about progress, and a sign that Oklahoma is healing.

Indeed, since April 19, 1995, many teenagers who lost parents in the blast have graduated from college or begun careers; many parents who lost children have retired or started new families. Time has moved on, moving lives along with it.

That's not to say that everyone has recovered, that tragedy has been forgotten, or that those responsible have been forgiven. It's simply that many don't want to let the terrorists control their lives any longer.

"A survivor recently told me, 'I've given them too much of my life and time already and I don't want to give them any more,' " says John Call, a forensic psychologist and president of Crisis Management Consultants in Oklahoma City. "But there is no lessening of the anger, no forgiveness. We're not being nice; we're just being practical."

Still, nobody has been held responsible for most of the lives taken in the blast - a sore spot for some. Mr. McVeigh was convicted of killing the eight federal law officers in the building and was executed in 2001. Nichols was found guilty of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter of those same officers, and was sentenced to life.

The other 160 people, including 19 children at a day-care center inside the building, remain nameless in the courts' eyes.

"Two were my grandchildren," says Jannie Coverdale, their primary caregiver. "Those children that died in there were our future. They could have been doctors, lawyers, scientists. But we don't know; they didn't live. Someone should be accountable for their deaths."

Ms. Coverdale is one of those who's been very vocal about having Nichols tried by the state, petitioning the governor and meeting with the district attorney. She wants him to be sentenced to death.

"The majority of people on death row are there for killing one or two people," she says. "So if Terry Nichols can kill 160 people and get life, then we might as well abolish the death penalty in this country."

Indeed, for some, the point is to punish Nichols to the fullest extent of the law; in this case, with the death penalty, which the state is seeking. For others, "it's just as much punishment for Nichols to spend the rest of his life in jail rotting," says Dr. Call.

Page: 1 | 2