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LISA
 Posted:
Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:18 am |
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Atlanta Courthouse Shooting Trial Set to Open
Atlanta Courthouse Shooting Trial Set to Open
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Associated Press
ATLANTA —
The courthouse killings case against Brian Nichols was supposed to be as open-and-shut as they come.
There were hordes of witnesses, hours of surveillance video and his lengthy statement to investigators after his arrest, when police say he confessed to a rampage that left four people dead.
Even Nichols' defense team has conceded Nichols killed a judge, court reporter, sheriff's deputy and federal agent on March 11, 2005, in a spree that began at the county courthouse in downtown Atlanta. He has pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys said Wednesday they plan to argue Nichols was insane and couldn't tell "right from wrong" during the killings.
With the murder trial set to start Thursday, more than three years after the killings, frustrated prosecutors are trying to keep the death penalty case on track as defense lawyers engage in maneuvers to whittle down the prosecution's mountain of evidence.
Both sides must contend with a case that has wound through more twists than an airport thriller: A state-funded defense bill of at least $1.8 million, outraged lawmakers, an alleged escape plot, allegations that a prosecutor committed crimes of her own and the district attorney suing the presiding judge, who later stepped down.
The developments have alternately astonished and outraged a community trying to close the books on the shootings that stunned Atlanta and turned Fulton County's seat of justice into a crime scene.
"The defense team has to have the resources to deal with the scope of the charges, and that's created a time problem and a money problem," said Anne S. Emanuel, a Georgia State University law professor. "But obviously it's extraordinarily frustrating to everyone looking at it because guilt is simply not an issue: He's the person that killed the victims."
Nichols was being escorted to a courtroom in the Fulton County Courthouse when he allegedly beat a deputy guarding him, stole her gun and went on a shooting spree.
He is accused of killing four people: Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, Sheriff's Deputy Hoyt Teasley and federal agent David Wilhelm. Nichols surrendered the next day after allegedly taking a woman hostage in her suburban Atlanta home.
Jury selection opened in January 2007 but was delayed soon after because of funding problems.
Judge Hilton Fuller suspended the trial indefinitely in October 2007 because the state public defender's office cut off funding to Nichols' attorneys amid a budget crunch. District Attorney Paul Howard sued Fuller, saying the delays were creating "an emergency situation," and called for the Georgia Supreme Court to intervene.
Fuller was targeted by a special legislative inquiry, giving angry state legislators a platform to attack publicly funded defense attorneys whose costs have ballooned to more than $1.8 million.
State lawmakers approved new measures this year to ban senior judges like Fuller — who do not face re-election — from hearing death penalty cases. They also tightened the public defender system's budget.
As the case has sputtered along, authorities say Nichols stayed busy. He was suspected of enlisting his pen-pal girlfriend, a paralegal and at least two sheriff's deputies in a scheme to break out of the Fulton County Jail.
The alleged plot is being investigated by a special prosecutor, who so far has not filed any charges.
Then the trial suddenly lost its leader: Fuller was forced to step down in January after he was quoted in The New Yorker magazine as saying of Nichols, "everyone in the world knows he did it."
New judge James Bodiford has tried to keep the case on track. He has had to handle defense attorneys' attempts to challenge the credibility of a former prosecutor, Gayle Abramson, who tried Nichols for rape.
They claim Abramson was involved in criminal activity while she prosecuted Nichols, and are questioning the integrity of the underlying rape prosecution. Abramson has called the allegation "inaccurate" and prosecutors have accused the defense team of attempting a "smear campaign."
Once trial begins, it's likely to last months. As many as 600 witnesses could be called. Written evidence runs to the thousands of pages.
But first, prosecutors and defense attorneys must painstakingly select 12 impartial jurors from a pool of hundreds of county residents. The judge also must determine whether the case can even be held in the county courthouse, which defense attorneys fear could taint the jurors.
Finding a fair jury to decide one of the most notorious cases in modern Atlanta history could be the trickiest task.
"The jury selection is going to be the most difficult part," said J. Tom Morgan, a former DeKalb County prosecutor. "They all have to take an oath that they haven't prejudged the case, and that's going to be hard to say."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,379161,00.html
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Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 1758
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| gwen
Posted:
Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:52 am |
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Jury Selection Begins In Nichols Trial
Brian Nichols Pleads Not Guilty By Insanity
POSTED: 10:54 am EDT July 10, 2008
UPDATED: 11:00 am EDT July 10, 2008
The man accused of a courthouse shooting rampage that left four people dead pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity as his trial began Thursday, more than three years after prosecutors say Brian Nichols confessed in the killings.
Defense attorney Henderson Hill entered the plea for Nichols a day after filing a motion claiming that Nichols was insane and couldn't tell "right from wrong" during the killings.
Even Nichols' defense team has conceded he killed a judge, court reporter and sheriff's deputy at the county courthouse in downtown Atlanta on March 11, 2005, and a federal agent later that day.
But the trial has faced a series of complications that have alternately astonished and outraged a community trying to close the books on the shootings that turned Fulton County's seat of justice into a crime scene.
Lawmakers outraged at a state-funded defense bill of at least $1.8 million have threatened to cut more funding. Nichols has been accused of plotting an escape. Defense attorneys claim a prosecutor committed crimes of her own. And the district attorney sued the presiding judge, who later stepped down.
New Judge James Bodiford has vowed to keep the case on track, and he rebuffed an attempt by Nichols' attorneys Thursday to delay the case further. He also instructed the legal teams on the arduous process of selecting 12 impartial jurors from a pool of hundreds of county residents.
Legal experts say finding a fair jury to decide one of the most notorious cases in modern Atlanta history could be the trickiest task. Dozens of potential jurors were expected to be screened by prosecutors and defense attorneys throughout the day.
The trial could last for months. As many as 600 witnesses could be called, and written evidence runs to the thousands of pages.
Prosecutors say Nichols was being escorted to a courtroom in the Fulton County Courthouse when he beat a deputy guarding him, stole her gun and went on a shooting spree.
He is accused of killing four people: Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, Sheriff's Deputy Hoyt Teasley and federal agent David Wilhelm. Nichols surrendered the next day after allegedly holding a woman hostage in her suburban Atlanta home.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/16842590/detail.html
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AKA Gagal_05
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 15244
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| victims cry
Posted:
Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:18 pm |
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insanity is his only hope but i don't think it will work.
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On Vacation!
Joined: 22 Mar 2006
Posts: 9307
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| gwen
Posted:
Sat Jul 12, 2008 1:28 pm |
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| victims cry wrote: | | insanity is his only hope but i don't think it will work. |
Me either, VC. At least, I sure hope not. This has been carried over way too long and cost the taxpayers a fortune already.
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AKA Gagal_05
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 15244
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| gwen
Posted:
Sat Jul 12, 2008 1:30 pm |
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Don McKee: Bodiford bringing sense to defense
Published: 07/11/2008
Judge James Bodiford brought the gavel down on dial-a-motion stalling by defense lawyers for Brian Nichols, whose trial for the 2005 Fulton courthouse massacre was delayed for more than a year.
"The trial is going to start Thursday," Bodiford, the no-nonsense Cobb Superior Court judge, informed defense lawyers earlier this week. "Here's what's not going to happen: we are not going to continue this case."
Defense lawyers had asked the judge to delay jury selection until a hearing was held on their complaint about alleged misconduct of the district attorney and his office.
The defense also wanted a delay for time to appeal a May decision by a DeKalb judge denying their motion to remove Bodiford from the case - an attempt to redo the removal of the first judge for improper comments.
Prosecutor Christopher Quinn retorted: "They're looking for another way to delay this trial." In essence, Bodiford agreed. He denied the request.
Talk about a no-nonsense judge.
Bodiford also informed the lawyers they would to have to put in nine and a half hours a day, six days a week to get the case tried.
Predictably, that drew objections from the defense. Lead attorney Henderson Hill told the judge at least three of the attorneys were over 50, warning: "When you start burning the candle at both ends like that, there are limits."
It cut no ice with Bodiford. He said he was a month shy of 59, adding: "I'm the oldest one here."
"All I'm doing is asking you to work nine-and-a-half hours every day," he told the lawyers. "I'm convinced this is a rational, reasonable trial schedule and that's the one that we're going to go on."
No ifs, ands or buts this time.
Bodiford said both sides could file and argue motions while jury selection was underway. Clearly, although Bodiford didn't put it this way, the lawyers could file and argue until they were blue in the face, but the trial was going to start Thursday.
And the trial started Thursday.
This judge is not going to brook any more of the delays that stalled the trial more than a year, primarily over money for the defense lawyers, resulting in the state public defender's office running out of funds at one point. Defense costs totaled at least $1.8 million at the end of June 2007 and you can be sure the meter's been running since then.
On Thursday attorney Hill told potential jurors Nichols admits killing the victims but was under a delusion that overpowered his will to resist. This "delusional compulsion" is the basis for Nichols entering a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting rampage that took the lives of Fulton Superior Court Judge Rowland K. Barnes, court reporter Julie Brandau, sheriff's deputy Sgt. Hoyt Teasley and federal agent David Wilhelm.
Now with Judge Bodiford in control, no one should be under any delusion that this trial is not going forward expeditiously.
http://mdjonline.com/content/index/showcontentitem/area/1/section/15/item/114669.html
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AKA Gagal_05
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 15244
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