River Cities Business Journal: Visit The Area

KINGMAN -- A Mohave County Superior Court judge Friday ordered 10 county residents to testify at Terry Lynn Nichols' murder trial in Oklahoma.

Nichols is charged with the murder of 161 people in Oklahoma City in the 1995 bombing that destroyed a federal building. He could face the death penalty if convicted. The trial in Oklahoma court began in March.

Nichols' attorneys have enlisted the aid of county Public Defender Dana Hlavac in subpoenaing 13 local witnesses for the defense.

The witnesses are expected to testify about any direct or indirect contacts with Nichols' co-conspirator Timothy McVeigh or associates of Nichols and McVeigh.

Superior Court Judge Steven Conn heard reasons from six of the witnesses in court Friday.

Joyce Cadima of Fort Mojave told Conn that she never rented a storage unit to Steve Colbern, a friend of McVeigh and who is also a suspect of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

Cadima said she happened to be the manager of the storage unit at the time and never met Colbern, only renting the unit to someone else when Colbern failed to pay.

"I can't see the significance of my being there," she said.

Cadima also spoke of the financial hardship of spending several days in Oklahoma when she works as a waitress and who depends on tips for most of her income.

Conn ordered Cadima to testify at the trial saying Nichols' attorneys may only want her to identify the storage unit's rental documents.

Conn also told all the witnesses they would be paid $5 a day and 10 cents a mile.

Two other potential witnesses, Les Hart of Kingman and Walter "Mac" McCarty of Golden Valley asked to be excused for medical reasons.

Hart arrived in court with an oxygen bottle. Hart reportedly traded McVeigh blasting caps for cannon fuse, and then disposed the blasting caps in the desert before giving them to the FBI.

McCarty, who once taught a gun class to McVeigh, also told Conn of his medical conditions and said he would rather go to jail than testify at the trial.

However, McCarty said if refusing to go is a felony he would go to Oklahoma but would not cooperate with defense attorneys.

McCarty said Nichols' attorneys wanted him to testify that McVeigh brainwashed Nichols. McVeigh did not brainwash Nichols, McCarty said.

Conn said refusing to testify at the trial is a misdemeanor charge of interfering with judicial proceedings and is punishable up to six months in jail.

However, Conn warned McCarty that a prosecutor could make it a felony charge of hindering prosecution.

Unconvinced by both men's medical reasons, Conn ordered them to testify.

Conn also signed the order for Kingman residents William Singleton, who owned the State Security where McVeigh once worked; Larry Chapman, who was McVeigh's supervisor at State Security; and Patricia Edwards to testify at the trial.

Four witnesses, Richard Coffman of Fort Mojave, Sandra Crigler, Donald Pipins and Norma Koalska waived their right to appear in court Friday and were also ordered to appear at Nichols' trial.

Three witnesses, Billie Jo Stanley of Bullhead City, a former girlfriend of Colbern, James Rosencrans and Noel Leith-Wilcox could not be reached for their subpoena.

Conn said he was not sure if he had authority to arrest them and left tracking those three to the public defender's office and Nichols' attorneys.

McVeigh was convicted of killing 168 people after driving a rental truck that exploded in April 19, 1995, destroying the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. McVeigh was executed in 2001.

Nichols, 49, is already serving a life sentence after being convicted in federal court of manslaughter in the deaths of seven federal agents.

McVeigh lived and worked in Kingman and Golden Valley for several months prior to the Oklahoma City bombing. It is believed Nichols had also lived with McVeigh for a time in Kingman.