12-Year Sentence of Bomb Figure Fortier Is Voided
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DENVER — A federal appeals court Wednesday overturned the 12-year sentence of Michael Fortier, a figure in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and ordered a lower court to resentence him based on more lenient guidelines.
Fortier, an associate of convicted bombers Timothy J. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols, pleaded guilty to firearms violations and failing to tell authorities of the plot to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. His testimony against the two men was crucial to their convictions in the bombing, which killed 168 people.
In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said the judge who sentenced Fortier erred in using first-degree murder guidelines and instead should have used the guidelines for manslaughter.
Fortier has been jailed since August 1995 and conceivably could be released soon, based on Wednesday’s decision.
Fortier was informed by McVeigh on several occasions of his plans to bomb the federal building and was urged to participate.
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