Associated Press

Fri, Nov 14, 2008 (11:18 a.m.)

Metro Police

Joshua Issac Nichols

The ex-wife of convicted Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols said Friday that she backs her 26-year-old son as he faces charges that he stole a motorcycle and battles a drug problem.

"You love your children unconditionally, no matter what," Lana Padilla said after watching her son, Joshua Isaac Nichols, appear in shackles before a Las Vegas judge.

"I'm not the only mother that has a son who's involved in drugs," she said. "My son needs help."

She declined to elaborate about Nichols' drug troubles.

Justice of the Peace Abbi Silver appointed a public defender to represent Nichols and set a Dec. 1 preliminary hearing on felony vehicle theft and possession of stolen property charges. She refused to lower the $3,200 bail set for Nichols, who remained in custody at the Clark County jail.

Outside court, Nichols' lawyer, Gary Guymon, declined comment.

Nichols moved with his mother to Las Vegas after she divorced Terry Nichols years before the April 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people. Terry Nichols, 53, is serving life in prison without parole for his role in the bombing. Convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed in 2001.

Padilla, a Las Vegas insurance and real estate businesswoman, expressed frustration that her son's case drew media attention and referred to what she called "sins of the father" affecting her son.

Joshua Nichols was arrested Tuesday after a police vehicle theft investigation team said they saw him retrieve a stolen 2008 Yamaha R6 motorcycle from a garage.

Court documents also show he was arrested Aug. 8 on several charges, including drug possession, transport of a controlled substance, drug paraphernalia, speeding and failure to produce a license, after a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper stopped him in a red Chevrolet Corvette on Interstate 15 south of Las Vegas. The trooper reported finding several plastic bags containing a substance believed to be methamphetamine in Nichols' sock and in the vehicle.

Criminal charges have not been filed in that case, a spokeswoman for Clark County District Attorney David Roger said Friday.

Nichols previously served a year and a half in a Nevada prison for assault with a deadly weapon, stolen vehicle and other charges stemming from a 2005 scuffle with Las Vegas police officers.

He also was sentenced to probation and a drug court diversion program in 2003 after pleading guilty to stealing a motor scooter to finance a drug habit.