John Doe No. 2 takes stage at Nichols trial

FBI sketch of John Doe #2

Defense argues McVeigh had different accomplice

December 3, 1997
Web posted at: 11:22 p.m. EST (0422 GMT)

DENVER (CNN) -- The mysterious John Doe No. 2 took center stage Wednesday at the trial of Terry Nichols, as defense lawyers tried to convince the jury that someone other than Nichols helped Timothy McVeigh bomb the Oklahoma City federal building.

In the days after the 1995 bombing, the FBI released a sketch of two men, designated "John Doe No. 1" and "John Doe No. 2," based on descriptions given by a clerk at a Ryder rental dealership in Kansas where the truck used in the bombing was rented.

While the first John Doe was eventually determined to be McVeigh, the second John Doe was not Nichols.

Federal officials later said that the person portrayed in the second sketch had nothing to do with the bombing and was the result of a misidentification by the Ryder clerk.

But the defense called several witnesses in an attempt to show that someone other than Nichols, presumably John Doe No. 2, was McVeigh's co-conspirator.

Eldon Elliott, the owner of the Ryder rental office in Junction City, Kansas, testified McVeigh had someone with him when he rented the truck used in the bombing. He said he could only remember that the other man wore a baseball cap with flames on the side and could not remember anything about his appearance.

A delivery man for a Chinese restaurant in Junction City, Daryl McCaleb, said four days before the blast, food was ordered from a local motel by someone using one of McVeigh's aliases. He said the man who paid for the food did not resemble either FBI sketch.

Mary Louise Martinez took the stand to testify she saw McVeigh and another man in a Ryder truck before the time prosecutors say McVeigh rented one.

Nichols

While she had previously provided FBI investigators with a description of that passenger, Martinez said Wednesday that she now cannot remember what the man looked like.

A waitress at a Denny's restaurant in Junction City, Nancy Kimdle, also testified that she waited on McVeigh and two other men on the Sunday before the bombing. She said one of those men was definitely not Nichols, though she couldn't remember what the other one looked like.

Another woman, Estella Weigel, said she saw a Ryder truck driving on a highway 90 miles from Junction City, preceded by a beige Mercury, a car similar to McVeigh's. That car, she said, was driven by a man resembling "John Doe No. 2."

But under cross examination, Weigel admitted that she had told an FBI agent that she had seen McVeigh's car on TV in the days after the bombing after the bombing.

Busy with work, not bombs

The defense also tried to establish Wednesday that Nichols was trying to build a business in the days before the Oklahoma City blast, rather than helping McVeigh build a bomb.

Defense witnesses testified that Nichols was seen trying to sell or barter military surplus items at gun shows, as he told the FBI, and that he told them he was considering starting a canoe business.

Nichols, 42, is charged with murder and conspiracy in connection with the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in which 168 people died. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

McVeigh has already been convicted and sentenced to death.

National Correspondent Tony Clark contributed to this report.

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