Posted on 3/16/2005, 3:39:54 AM by TexKat
ATLANTA - Ringed by 19 officers in a cinderblock jail room, his hands and ankles shackled, the man accused in the crime spree that left an Atlanta judge and three others dead went before a judge Tuesday for the first time since the rampage. Brian Nichols, 33, was informed that authorities plan to charge him with murder.
Nichols looked straight ahead during the five-minute hearing and did not make eye contact with anyone in the room, including the judge. He spoke only once, when Judge Frank Cox asked him if he had any questions.
"Not at this time," he said.
Nichols was held without bail on the rape charge he was on trial for Friday, when he allegedly overpowered a guard at the Fulton County courthouse, stole her gun and started a rampage that terrorized Atlanta and left four people dead.
This time, authorities took no chances for the hearing at the Fulton County Jail.
All prisoners booked into the jail make their first appearance before a judge inside the jail, not at the courthouse. But 19 officers — almost five times the usual number — packed the small room, and several more officers blocked the hall outside.
Those entering the hearing room were searched with a handheld metal detector.
Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman said other steps had been taken to improve courthouse security: 40 uniformed deputies have been added and high-risk inmates will be transported separately, accompanied by specially trained officers.
"The security improvements we've made in the past few days will continue as we search for ways to increase security and the safety of the public," he said in a statement.
Prosecutor Michele McCutcheon informed Cox the state will pursue four charges of murder against Nichols.
Nichols is accused of killing the judge on his rape case and two others at the courthouse, then killing a federal agent while on the run. After a 26-hour manhunt, he was captured Saturday at an apartment complex where he had taken a woman hostage.
The hostage, Ashley Smith, read a religious book to Nichols before he freed her and she called 911. Gov. Sonny Perdue said she will receive a $10,000 reward.
After Nichols' hearing, defense attorney Chris Adams told reporters "this is a time of grief and mourning" for the courthouse community.
That grief was apparent during an afternoon memorial service across the street from the courthouse. About 200 people packed in and around the building's atrium, and an additional 100 or so watched from the three levels of balconies overlooking it.
Many wept as friends and co-workers shared thoughts and anecdotes about the victims. Deputies wore black bands across their badges in honor of their fallen comrade, Sgt. Hoyt Teasley, who was gunned down outside the courthouse.
Chief Deputy Michael Cooke hailed Teasley as a hero.
"When everyone was running away from the danger, Hoyt, responding to the distress, ran to the danger," Cooke said.
County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford was one of many courthouse employees who personally knew all the victims. "This could've happened to anybody, and it's unfortunate it happened to some very dear friends," he said.
More memorials are planned.
"It is really devastating to think this has occurred to this family," Superior Court Chief Judge Doris Downs said. "We've got to make something good come of this."
Really? Wow.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Sorry...money can't be used as an excuse...they should patrol less during the day and guard the prisoners more..this is a pure case of negligence on the part of LE...in my local county courthouse, even teens are trasported shankeled at least to the door of the courtroom...
And 19 guards now...I thought they had a money problem?
Prosecutors have a CHOICE?!? Good grief, is murdering 3 policemen a judge and a court reporter doesn't warrent this, what does?
And we can thank Affirmative Action for forcing the police to use a 50+ yr old female deputy to escort the prisoner, instead of a man (who could have possibly resisted the attack better than an elderly woman). Women simply are not qualified to do EVERY job that a man does. This case in point was emphasized by the deaths of 5 people; yet there will remain the ignorant who will insist that a woman can do any job as well as a man.
Based on the dereliction of duty by the local prosecutor, I'm surprised they are going to charge him.
So many levels of wrongness and ineptitude in this sad tale, and 4 lives lost and many others shattered. One of the few things we should really expect from government - to provide justice and lock up our criminals - bit us all in the ass once again. There must be a lot of people who cannot sleep tonight, knowing the failure to do their jobs led to murder.
Face of Evil
huh?
Fulton County must be the poster child for everything that's wrong with our criminal justice sytem.
Interesting that in all reports of this crime spree the racial element is totally avoided. According to Smith, Nichols told her that he was a warrior in the race war and the black man had been kept down too long. It is obvious that this was a criminal psycohpath who killed/injured regardless of race but I wait for the poverty pimps.jesse al and lou to show up somewhere
Another thing,this guy didn't find Jesus. I'm glad that Ms. Smith is alive and glad that no one else died because she didn't call 911 when they were dropping off the truck. But this is a manipulative a##hole who thought nothing of executing defenseless people but was afraid to die. Ms. Smith didn't convince him to surrender. He used Smith to give himself up because he knew there was no way out, alive, except for this. We can count on years of appeals and manipulation before justice is served, if ever.
Brian Nichols Hostage Speaks Out
What happpened Friday and Saturday, step by step (Brian Nichols / Court House Shootings)
Assault Victim Angered At Slow I.D. Of Nichols(Atlanta)
WHAT WENT WRONG? - Mistakes may have delayed capture [Atlanta police]
Judge faults security procedures (in Atlanta massacre)
Atlanta Police - Be on the lookout for a Green Honda (cartoon)
AP: U.S. Custom Agent found shot to death in North Atlanta
CNN reporting Hostage Situation North of Atlanta. (Update: Nichols CAPTURED!)
Fulton Co. Judge shot and killed in courthouse shooting (BREAKING Fri 9A)
Live THREAD - -Neal BOORTZ LOADED FOR BEAR BRIAN NICHOLS
Brian G. Nichols: Camera rolled during attack
From hostage to celeb in a blink (Ashley Smith)
Just saw first Ashley Smith interview on Fox. (comment)
Shackled Nichols Appears in Court
Ashley Smith on Hannity at Bottom of 3 pm EST Hour
Ashley Smith Appearing on Today Show- ON Now
Hostage's Cool Compassion Disarmed Atlanta Fugitive (Ashley Smith-Atlanta)
Shooting in Atlanta Courtroom - Several Killed
Atlanta Killings: Did PC Kill Four People?
Officials find lapses in security led to Atlanta's court slaughter
Revenge on system cited as motive for rampage - Nichols saw himself as 'soldier on a mission'
(Atlanta) Police missed early chance (to get Nichols; Keystone Kops strike again)
mhking to be on O'Reilly tonight (3/14) discussing Nichols aftermath(On Now!!)
Surveillance video released on CNN from cameras taken in parking garage - suspect Brian Nichols
Great post #10. The guy is a psychopath, not some misunderstood brother (racially or spiritually). He kills four people, then just wants a nice meal and some TLC. It has also come out now that he wrote down names of people in his jail cell, including racial slurs. He's a pig who deserves to die ASAP, and no sympathy at all should be wasted on this vermin. Save it for his victims.
I meant post 11, but 10 wasn't bad either!
Thanks for all the articles - you have really been a great source and it is appreciated by us cubies.
You are welcome over3Owithabrain.
Stephen O’Leary
Jurors in Nichols Trial Speak Out
Web Editor: Manav Tanneeru
Last Modified: 3/16/2005 8:03:35 PM
A juror who participated in the first rape trial for Brian Nichols, the suspect in the courthouse killings last Friday, told 11Alive News Wednesday he thought Nichols was guilty.
The trial, which took place three weeks, ended in a hung jury after 15 hours of deliberations.
When deliberations began, nine of the 12 jurors wanted to convict Nichols of raping and holding hostage his ex-girlfriend. But by the end of the second day, the jury was deadlocked -- voting eight to four in favor of acquittal.
"In the end, I really felt like I didn't want to let him go,” Stephen O’Leary, a juror said. “If it had to be a mistrial, I was willing to live with that, but I didn't want to change my vote to not guilty."
O' Leary said he was convinced by the physical evidence against Nichols and by the alleged victim’s testimony.
"The testimony of the victim lasted a day-and-half and she had just an extreme level of detail in her testimony,” O’Leary said. "On the other hand, Brian Nichols took the stand in our case and he testified as well for a few hours and his account of the same story had no detail at all."
O' Leary described Nichols as an imposing figure in the courtroom who kept his focus on the jurors, almost as if he were trying to read their minds.
O’ Leary also remembered court reporter Julie Brandau and Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes as friendly and warm.
"They were very nice people. The first day of deliberations, the court reporter made us a pound cake, and Judge Barnes was very warm with us and very compassionate,’ O’ Leary said.
O’Leary said he feels crushed by what happened during Nichols’ retrial one week later. "I wish I had been able to convince the rest of the jurors to deliver a guilty verdict. I wish that we had been able to put him in jail and keep this from happening,” he said.
Joe Wood, another juror who spoke to 11Alive by telephone today, also voted to convict Nichols and feared he would commit more violence if allowed to go free.
He pointed out Nichols was accused of using duct tape to tie up his ex-girlfriend in the bathroom, just as he is accused of tying up Ashley Smith, the hostage who eventually turned him in.
The two jurors said everyone on the jury thought he was probably guilty, but most felt there was not enough evidence. They had reasonable doubt.
Reported By: Kevin Rowson
Web Editor: Manav Tanneeru
Last Modified: 3/16/2005 8:03:12 PM
There are still many gaps in the 24-hour timeline that Brian Nichols, the suspect in four murders, was on the loose last Friday, but recently released police reports detailing five alleged carjackings clear up some of the timing.
At 9:05 a.m. Friday morning, during the height of confusion at the Fulton County Courthouse, Deputy Solicitor General Duane Cooper was pulling into the parking garage across from the courthouse when a man put a gun to his face and ordered him out of his 2001 Mazda Tribute.
Nichols, the suspect, used the car to flee the chaos.
Two minutes later at 15 Wall Street, Nichols allegedly carjacked a tow truck and drove it to the Imperial Parking Garage at 98 Cone Street.
A 9:14 a.m., Nichols is suspected of dumping the tow truck and carjacking Atlanta Journal-Constitution employee Almeta Kilgo's2004 Mercury Sable on the fourth floor of the garage and from there he headed north on Spring Street.
At 9:16 a.m., inside the parking lot at the Apparel Mart, Nichols allegedly confronted Sung Chung in his 1997 Isuzu Trooper.
Chung, who works at a jewelry store there, told 11Alive News Nichols put a gun to his head and first ordered to get in the passenger seat, and then to the floor board.
Chung said as Nichols was pulling out of the garage, he ordered him to give him his jacket so he could change his appearance.
It was while Nichols was changing into the jacket that Chung saw an opportunity and unlocked the passenger door and jumped out before the car exited the lot.
At the parking lot across from CNN Center, at 9:20 a.m. and only 15 minutes after the first carjacking, AJC reporter Don O’Briant became the final carjack victim.
A surveillance camera at the parking lot showed Nichols wearing Chung’s jacket.
At some point after the final carjacking, authorities say, Nichols boarded a MARTA train and headed to Buckhead. Police say Nichols accosted a couple near Lenox Mall at about 10:20 p.m.
Nichols then allegedly came across a federal agent at his Buckhead home Friday night and killed him. He was captured at a Gwinnett apartment complex Saturday morning.
The details of the gap in time -– between the last carjacking at 9:20 a.m. and the couple being assaulted at 10:20 p.m. –- are still unclear.
Investigators told 11Alive News they have filled in that gap, but were unwilling to release it.
East Texan Shared Cell With Suspected Atlanta Shooter
East Texan Shared Cell With Suspected Atlanta Shooter
"Me and my wife was looking at the TV. It ran up on the flash news 'Brian Nichols' and it just, you know... It just shocked me," says Nichols' former cellmate Rodney Johnson. Johnson says the man he saw shackled in an Atlanta courtroom isn't the man he knew when they were cellmates last August. "We had a prayer group there. And we kept each other in God's hands." Johnson says Brian Nichols confided in him in jail, Johnson he was wrongly accused of the rape charges filed by his girlfriend of eight years. "If no one didn't believe in him for being good for a long time--he's been a good guy for a long time and never harmed no one and if no one didn't believe in him, he wasn't going to believe in no one." It is why Johnson believes Nichols just snapped Friday, allegedly killing four people in his rampage. While Johnson watched the manhunt unfold on TV, he believes Nichols was calling his East Texas confidante for help. "I got a call from Atlanta," says Johnson, "but my mother answered the phone and they hung up. About an hour and a half later I got another call from Atlanta from a different number. I tried to call back and I didn't get no answer from them and stuff. [The numbers were from] like pay phones and other places. And I was wondering if Brian was trying to get in touch with me because we was like brothers." Although Johnson doesn't justify his friend's alleged actions, he knows he can be of little help to Brian Nichols living hundreds of miles away in East Texas. "With no family members or no one around that's visiting you or to talk to, nobody in the whole world, his mind was getting troubled. I mean real troubled."
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