Terry Nichols to speak on camera

By Nolan Clay

Published: September 27, 2008

A judge has stuck to his decision to allow Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols to be interviewed on videotape, despite complaints video recording "poses a threat” to the federal prison's security.

The federal government is expected to appeal.

U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball last year gave Utah attorney Jesse Trentadue permission to tape Nichols and another inmate, David Paul Hammer, who was on death row with bomber Timothy McVeigh. The judge Thursday refused to reconsider his order.

Prison officials complained videotaping inside the prison could allow someone to develop an assault plan. To allay those concerns, the judge Thursday limited the videotaping to a single room and said guards could take the video equipment to the room themselves.

Trentadue is seeking information from Nichols and Hammer to support his theory that his younger brother was beaten to death by guards at the Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center in August 1995. He contends authorities mistook his brother for a bombing suspect. Officials said Kenneth Trentadue committed suicide in his cell.

"The truth should be told,” Jesse Trentadue said Friday.

Nichols is serving life sentences at the maximum-security federal penitentiary in Florence, Colo., for his role in the 1995 bombing.

Hammer is at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. Hammer claims McVeigh told him other accomplices' identities. Before his execution, McVeigh told biographers only Nichols helped him.