OKLAHOMA CITY ? An FBI agent testified Friday he believed after his first interview with bombing conspirator Terry Nichols that Nichols had helped Timothy McVeigh with the Oklahoma City bombing.

Special Agent Steve Smith of Topeka, Kan., said he interviewed Nichols for nine hours on April 21, 1995, two days after the bombing, after Nichols surrendered to police in his hometown of Herington, Kan.

Nichols volunteered that he knew McVeigh and that both men had used aliases at gun shows where they worked across the country, Smith said.

The FBI agent took the stand in a hearing that will determine whether there is enough evidence to try Nichols on 160 state counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty.

Nichols, 48, already has been sentenced to life in prison on federal charges for the deaths of eight law enforcement officers in the bombing.

Smith said Nichols told FBI agents he had obtained bomb-making books and pamphlets and discussed the processes with McVeigh.

He said Nichols was careful in his answers to questions regarding discussions he had with McVeigh about bomb-making processes.

“He’s a very deliberate man,” Smith testified.

He said Nichols took 10 to 12 minutes while deciding whether he would agree to be interviewed, then sometimes would take up to 30 seconds to answer specific questions.

“He was more contemplative when he perceived they were serious questions,” Smith said.

Nichols told agents he did not have any bomb-making materials, but that he had spread ammonium nitrate fertilizer on his yard following the bombing. Smith said Nichols told him he believed it would be suspicious to have the fertilizer in his house.

FBI agent Steve Smith is pictured in an artist's sketch as he testifies in a hearing for convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols. Nichols already is serving life in prison on federal charges. The hearing Friday was part of the process of determining whether there is enough evidence to try Nichols on 160 state counts of first-degree murder.

A retired FBI photo technician, Jo Ann Thomas, testified she found a receipt for a ton of ammonium nitrate fertilizer purchased from a Kansas co-op six months before the April 19, 1995, bombing during a search of Nichols’ house.

The receipt was in the name of Mike Havens, one of several aliases used by Nichols.

Thomas also testified that authorities discovered four empty 55-gallon plastic barrels in Nichols’ garage. Authorities said the 4,000-pound bomb that blew up outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was made of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel packaged in 55-gallon barrels.

Earlier Friday, Nichols’ wife said she didn’t recognize a police sketch of John Doe No. 2 that she was shown by the FBI two days after the bombing.

Marife Nichols said she told the agents that the sketch of John Doe No. 1 resembled bombing conspirator Timothy McVeigh, but “the other, I have no idea.”

She testified that she woke up on the morning of April 21, 1995, to find her husband reading about the bombing in several newspapers. Later that day, she said Nichols drove her and their daughter, Nicole, to the Herington Police Station to talk with authorities.

The search for John Doe No. 2 began when the FBI released sketches of two men it believed had rented the truck that blew up outside the federal building, based on descriptions from a worker in the rental shop.

John Doe No. 1 was Timothy McVeigh, investigators said. John Doe No. 2 was a heavyset man who didn’t resemble Nichols. The man in the sketch eventually was identified by authorities as an Army private who had been in the rental shop the day after McVeigh. The man was cleared by the FBI of involvement in the bombing.

Nichols was at home in Kansas the day the bomb exploded. But authorities said he helped McVeigh pack the bomb inside the truck the day before the bombing. McVeigh was convicted on federal murder charges and was executed in June 2001.