Terry Nichols wears a cheap grey sports jacket and white shirt. No tie. He looks more like a harried insurance salesman after a hard day at work than the only accomplice to the single worst act of domestic terrorism in American history. He sits wearily at the defence table, listening as his lead defence attorney delivers the opening statement to the jury.

It’s 22 March 2004, and Nichols is on trial for his life.

He’s already serving a life sentence for the killing of eight federal law enforcement officers in the bombing of the Alfred P Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City on 19 April 1995.