Does Terry Nichols' second escape of the death penalty say something?

I'm normally skeptical of anything that lawyers in high profile criminal cases (both sides) have to say to the press after the case is over, because it usually seems just like spin. However, I think that Terry Nichols' attorney might be on to something:

McALESTER, Okla. - An Oklahoma jury's inability to decide whether to send bombing conspirator Terry Nichols to death row may reflect wider misgivings about the death penalty, his defense attorneys say.

If we're going to have a death penalty, it's hard to think of too many people who would be more deserving of it than Timothy McVeigh (who was executed by the federal government) and Terry Nichols. (Yes, Osama bin Laden and his friends are in that group . . . .) Having scouted out the Murrah Federal Building as the target, they must have known that there was a child care center in there and that setting their bomb off at nine in the morning would kill the children inside (not to mention the adults).

Apparently the jury was influenced by Nichols' religious growth:

Jurors who favored the death penalty said those who opposed it cited Nichols' jailhouse conversion to Christianity and believed he might be able to help other prisoners and his three children.

Well, I suppose there might be some value in the death penalty after all, as a sort of stick to induce criminal convicts to try to better themselves in prison so as to avoid execution. I do wonder how he's supposed to help other prisoners, though.

Comments

[Jeff Findel]

I wonder if he had converted to Islam if he would have recieved the same sympathy? Clearly atheists are being discriminated against. Anyway, weren't these jurors 'death tested'? They said that they could return a death sentance if the case warrented it?

[Brian]

I was against the death penalty for Nichols for this one reason: He didn't do this just with McVeigh, there were more people involved. Maybe after some cooling off time, he'll sing like a bird.