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Fulton judge, court reporter and deputy killed
Schools closed as police conduct massive manhunt for trial defendant

By MIKE MORRIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/11/05
A Fulton County judge, deputy and a court reporter were killed and another deputy was wounded Friday morning at the county courthouse in downtown Atlanta.

Police were hunting the gunman this afternoon. Many metro schools were closed or locked down during the manhunt.

Deputies at the scene told reporters that Fulton Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes was killed, along with a court reporter, identified by court officials as Julie Brandau, 43, of Snellville. The suspect apparently took a deputy's gun, then shot the judge, the court reporter and the deputy, other deputies said.

A second deputy was shot outside the courtroom.

Atlanta Police Sgt. John Quigley said one of the deputies died later at Grady Memorial Hospital. He said the second deputy was grazed by a bullet and was being treated for non-life threatening injuries at the hospital.

Fulton sheriff's spokesman Clarence Huber confirmed that that Brian Nichols, 33, is the suspect in today's shootings.

At 10:45 a.m., the state Department of Transportation was posting a description on the overhead signs along I-75 of a vehicle the suspect was believed to be driving. There was confusion on the vehicle police were seeking. One was described as a 1997 gray or green Honda Accord with the license plate 6584YN. Another description was of a green Isuzu Trooper, tag 4697AJY.

The suspect apparently carjacked several vehicles following the shooting, which occurred about 9 a.m. Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Don O'Briant was injured at a parking deck a few blocks from the courthouse during a carjacking.

Another carjacking occurred at a parking deck several blocks from the courthouse. John Oglesby is vice president of Impark, the company that owns that parking deck at the corner of Cone and Poplar streets.

Oglesby said a man in a tow truck entered the parking lot and the first person he saw was a female AJC employee on the fourth level of the deck. He commandeered her car at gunpoint, forced her from her vehicle and took her purse. The newspaper employee, Almeta Kilgo, was not injured.

The suspect left the parking deck in her car, turning north on Cone Street.

Oglesby said his company has owned the parking lot for about five years. The deck is in an older building near Centennial Olympic Park.

A court administrator on the sixth floor of the courthouse said he heard shots shortly after 9 a.m., and the courthouse was put on lockdown afterward.

Nichols was on trial today in Barnes' courtroom on six charges including rape, aggravated sodomy, false imprisonment, aggravated assault with intent to rape, burglary and drug possession, according to the Fulton County sheriff's office. He was booked into the county jail on Aug. 24.

Eric Friedly, a spokesman for Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, said Nichols was out on bond and was going to be cross-examined today. He said Judge Barnes was finishing up a civil proceeding before his second criminal trial resumed. Nichols was not cuffed, which Friedly said is not unusual.

"Even if the defendant is in jail at the time of the trial, he's allowed to wear street clothes in order to not prejudice the jury."

Defense attorney Renee Rockwell was walking into Judge Barnes' courtroom just as the shooting took place.

"I saw hats on the ground and all the deputies were running with guns drawn. You don't ever see that," Rockwell said. She said she was pushed into an elevator by deputies. One of the deputies was crying. Rockwell said the deputy told her: "The defendant got the gun and shot the judge."

Rockwell said she knew that the defendant had been in court the previous week and had been a "difficult defendant."

According to Fulton prosecutor Gayle Abramson, Nichols was appearing before Barnes in the retrial of a rape case. Nichols was accused of going to his ex-girlfriend's apartment in North Fulton and holding her hostage for hours during which he repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

A juror in the rape trial, James Bailey, from Sandy Springs, said the trial started on Tuesday and the prosecution had finished its case when the shootings occurred, but the jury was not in the courtroom.

"I can't believe it," said Bailey. "I thought the guy was guilty from the beginning. I guess he knew it too."

News of the shooting stunned those in the legal community, like lawyer David Wolfe of Atlanta.

"Everybody knew Judge Barnes to be one of the judges that both sides would want to have on a case because he was knowledgeable about the law. He tempered everything he did with compassion," Wolfe said.

Wolfe said he received word of the shooting via e-mail messages from people at the courthouse who spoke with witnesses. They told him someone grabbed a deputy's gun in the middle of a trial and shot the judge, a court reporter and sheriff's deputy.

"It sounds to me like an act of defiance or desperation," he said. "It's a tragedy and a shock. What was going on goes on every day in every courtroom in that building."

Wolfe said Barnes earned a reputation as fair during more than 10 years in Fulton Superior Court, where he presided over felony trials and civil lawsuits.

"He was loved by all," Wolfe said.

Those who worked at the courthouse were in shock.

"This is a nightmare," said Fulton County Superior Court Reporter Evelyn Parker. "This was bound to happen I guess, but this is unbelievable."

Mike Mears, director of Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, mourned the loss of Barnes.

"He was an extraordinarily good, fair, judge," said Mears. "He was an extremely nice person. He was one of those judges who took every case seriously and had great respect for the attorneys who appeared before him."

Criminal defense attorney Dennis Scheib was trying a murder case on the eighth floor when "deputies came running in with their guns drawn and said a judge was shot."

While Scheib waited across the street to return to the courthouse, he got cell phone updates about the shooting from his paralegal.

Scheib, who was a police officer for 13 years, said the deputies were too lax with their guns around inmates and defendants. In DeKalb County, he said any time deputies approach a prisoner, they take their guns off and 10 or 15 other armed deputies are present.

"They're just so undermanned over here."

Peter Zeliff, an Atlanta defense attorney who represented Nichols until December, called the shooting a "terrible tragedy."

Zeliff said Nichols is now represented by attorney Barry Hazen. Zeliff said Nichols changed attorneys because he could not longer afford him.

"Roland Barnes was one of the most fair, reasonable judges out there," Zeliff said. "If he was ever going to get a fair shake, he would have gotten it from Judge Barnes."

"He was highly respected by both sides."

Zeliff also criticized security at the courthouse.

"This was an accident waiting to happen," he said. "I can think of a half dozen other examples of when something like this could have happened.

"Security is abysmal."