OKLAHOMA CITY ? One of the prosecutors in bombing conspirator Terry Nichols’ murder trial was arrested in a police prostitution sting, officials said Friday.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Lou Keel was accused of trying to hire a woman for sex Thursday evening. The woman was an undercover police officer, authorities said.

He was booked on a charge of offering to engage in an act of lewdness with a prostitute, said police Capt. Jeffrey Becker. Keel posted bond and was released.

Dist. Atty. Wes Lane said he has suspended Keel with pay pending a review of the police investigation.

Nichols was found guilty in May on 161 counts of first-degree murder for the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, which killed 168 people.

Nichols, 49, had already been sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1998 for the deaths of eight federal law enforcement officers. The 161 state murder counts were for the other 160 people killed, plus the fetus of a pregnant victim.

In both trials, Nichols received life sentences after juries deadlocked over whether he should be put to death.

In closing arguments in May, Keel told jurors that Nichols did more to gather bomb components and plan the bombing than mastermind Timothy McVeigh, who was executed in 2001. Prosecutors say Nichols bought the explosive ammonium nitrate fertilizer used in the bomb and stole detonation cord and blasting caps.