Nichols writes to judge on son's behalf

In a new letter, Terry Nichols claims again that he was forced by bomber Timothy McVeigh into participating in the 1995 attack on the Oklahoma City federal building.

Terry Nichols' letter

Nichols' son sentenced in assault

The convicted bombing co-conspirator wrote the 18-page letter last month on behalf of his oldest son. Josh Nichols, 23, was sentenced in Las Vegas on Wednesday to four years in prison for driving a stolen car and assaulting two police officers. The letter to his son's judge was first obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Terry Nichols wrote in the new letter that he was lost in life in the years leading up to the bombing.

"When one is in this lost state of mind one can be easily manipulated & guided down many a wrong paths & beliefs. Today I can speak of this as being true because I have personally experienced such," he wrote.

He also wrote he "made a vow to myself a few years ago that I would never again allow fear, intimidation nor threats to rule & control me again like McVeigh did with me over 11 years ago where he threatened to hurt my family & me if I didn't do as he said, which, sadly, in the end resulted in the death of hundreds of innocent men, women, and children, and the devastation of my family members."

Terry Nichols denied publicly for years that he participated in the Oklahoma City bombing but admitted his involvement last year to the FBI, his family and a U.S. congressman. He told them, too, that McVeigh manipulated him with threats.

Terry Nichols, 51, was convicted at federal and state trials for his role and is serving life in prison at a federal penitentiary in Colorado. McVeigh was executed in 2001.

Terry Nichols has told the FBI and the congressman that he thinks McVeigh had other help but doesn't know who they are. He reveals in his new letter that in September 2004 he wrote then-Attorney General John Ashcroft as part of an effort to get "anyone's interest in investigating the 'others unknown' in the OKC bombing. He wrote he never got a reply.

Terry Nichols was interviewed by the FBI again last year after stolen blasting caps were found underneath his former home in Herington, Kan. Terry Nichols wrote that he was an atheist before the bombing but has found God since his arrest.

"And though I wish the bombing never occurred and that I had been with my family all along, I am still thankful to God for having these past 11 years of isolation to come to the knowledge of the truth and accept Jesus Christ as my Lord & Savior."

In the letter, he asks the judge to show Josh Nichols leniency. He claims Josh Nichols is a victim of the bombing and recounts how the FBI tried to get Josh Nichols to admit he was John Doe No. 2.

FBI agents searched for weeks for John Doe No. 2, saying the suspect had helped McVeigh rent the bomb truck at Elliott's Body Shop in Junction City, Kan. Sketches of John Doe No. 2 were publicized worldwide.

Prosecutors later insisted