Three Shot Dead at Ga. Trial; Gunman Flees

[jamotto]

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By HARRY WEBER, Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA - A man being escorted into court for his rape trial Friday stole a deputy's gun, killed the judge and two other people and carjacked a reporter's vehicle to escape, setting off a massive manhunt and creating widespread chaos across Atlanta, police said.

Hundreds of officers in cruisers and helicopters swarmed the area in the search of the suspect, identified as 33-year-old Brian Nichols. The former computer technician had been on trial for rape, burglary and other charges stemming from an August incident involving an ex-girlfriend.

The rampage led to chaos around the city, with schools, restaurants and office buildings locking down amid fears that the suspect might strike again. Nichols' mug shot was plastered all over TV screens, and highway message boards issued descriptions of the stolen vehicle.

"Mr. Nichols is considered armed and extremely dangerous and should not be approached," Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman said. "We are not going to rest until we find him."

Nichols got the gun by overpowering the female deputy while he was being led down a corridor in the Fulton County Courthouse, Assistant Police Chief Alan Dreher said. After shooting the deputy in the face, the suspect then went to the courtroom, held about a dozen people at bay for a short time and shot and killed the judge and a court reporter, he said.

Another deputy was later killed outside the Atlanta courthouse when he confronted the suspect, Dreher said. The deputy shot while leading Nichols to court survived, but details about her condition were not immediately known.

Authorities said Nichols then pistol-whipped a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, stole his green 1997 Honda Accord and sped away.

"When he had the gun in my face, you start to think, `How can I stay alive.' I thought this was a routine carjack. I didn't know two people other were killed," said Don O'Briant, a features writer for the paper.

Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor confirmed that Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes and his court reporter were among the dead.

The shootings occurred after the judge and prosecutors had requested extra security for deputies after investigators found a shank in each of Nichols' shoes Thursday, prosecutor Gayle Abramson said. She said Nichols apparently fashioned the shanks from a door knob.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said he did not know what exactly was done in the way of stepped-up security, but said the deputies were receptive to their request. Dreher said that there were no other officers other than the female deputy assisting with taking Nichols to court. The law requires that defendants on trial not be handcuffed as they enter the courtroom, to make sure the sight of cuffs doesn't unfairly influence the jury.

The shootings occurred shortly after 9 a.m. Friday ÔÇö the fourth day of Nichols' trial. Nichols had been facing a re-trial on charges of rape, sodomy, burglary, and false imprisonment, among others, after his earlier trial ended in a hung jury a week ago.

"I think he probably realized ... he might be convicted this time, he might not have a chance to walk out," Howard said. "We believe he came here with the intent to make sure that didn't happen."

In the rape case, Nichols was accused of bursting into his ex-girlfriend's home, binding her with duct tape and sexually assaulting her over three days. Howard said Nichols brought a loaded machine gun into the home and a cooler with food in case he was hungry.

Nichols, who had been jailed for the last six months, had faced a possible life prison sentence if convicted for rape.

Nichols' last known job was working as a computer technician for a subsidiary of Atlanta-based shipping giant UPS. Company spokesman Norm Black says Nichols joined the unit in March 2004 and left in September 2004, which was when he was arrested.

More than 100 state troopers and officers from several agencies, including the FBI (news - web sites), were assisting in the search, but there were few leads, said G.D. Stiles, a Fulton County deputy chief. Offers of help from officers on their days off were pouring in.

Telephone and e-mail requests for comment to Nichols' attorney, Barry M. Hazen, were not immediately returned Friday.

Barnes was known for his personable approach to justice and his sense of humor, and members of Georgia's legal community expressed shock by the news.

Among the recent cases that Barnes handled was the sentencing of Atlanta Thrashers player Dany Heatley, who pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the death of a teammate.

Barnes, 64, also drew national attention last month when he approved a plea deal that required a mother of seven who pleaded guilty to killing her 5-week-old daughter to have a medical procedure that would prevent her from having more children.

"We're shook to the core," said Linda Dreyer, a longtime employee in the court administrator's office who knew Barnes.

"This is a profound shock. It's so unthinkable, it's like a 9-11 at the courthouse," said fellow Judge Craig Schwall.

James Bailey, a juror at Nichols' trial, said the jury was not in the courtroom at the time of the shooting. He said Nichols had made him and other jurors nervous. "Every time he looked up, he was staring at you," Bailey said.

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[LostInSpace]

Why wasn't this guy in cuffs. It should be common policy from now on. I don't care who you are you should be cuffed until you are out of the court house.

[Wolferz]

This one begs other questions..

Why was this guy being brought in by ONE deputy?

Why was the deputy packing a weapon?

I have seen the inside of alot of jails and not one of them allowed a weapon to be brought in by anyone. Same for courthouses.

Common sense is indeed rare.

[LostInSpace]

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Originally posted by Wolferz:

This one begs other questions..

Why was this guy being brought in by ONE deputy?

Why was the deputy packing a weapon?

I have seen the inside of alot of jails and not one of them allowed a weapon to be brought in by anyone. Same for courthouses.

Common sense is indeed rare.

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Yeah it's Georgia guess we should expect things like that. Inbreeding does have it disadvantages after all.

[Kevin Trotter]

Lost you are so bad! Look I have to be in court with my clients 8-10 times a month. Last time I got held up for having a nail file! In Allegheny County CH all the inmates are shackled when being transported from the Jail. County Sherrifs do not carry in the court house. What happened in Atlanta was bad but was also the product of a poorly thought out weapons policy.

[Guest]

Here in Pierce county the only ones allowed to carry weapons in the courthouse are the Corrections officers, they ALWAYS carry, the convicts are brought in in their orange jumpsuits, and their hands cuffed, and their feet chained.

Whenever I go to the courthouse, I have to check in my weapon and have it locked up until I come back to the checkpoint.

Trials are another matter all together.

The matter in the Atlanta courthouse was pure bad luck, they follow the USSC rules to the letter, whereas most states don't. They follow this policy even if it's a pretrial hearing, which from what I have heard, this was.

According to the USSC, prisoners are not allowed to stand trial in a jumpsuit and cuffed, it might perjure the Jury.

What a crock of crap, the guy had a history, and he was considered dangerous. He should have been cuffed and in leg irons.

Because of the USSC playing god, 4 people were killed by this monster, anybody think that they are going to change their ruling?

I didn't think so...

[Guest Grayfox]

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The law requires that defendants on trial not be handcuffed as they enter the courtroom, to make sure the sight of cuffs doesn't unfairly influence the jury.

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ya that makes real sense... i could rant hours on end about the stupidity of quoted law, but ill save you folks instead ill offer this: bet your ass that law will change real quick

[jamotto]

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The law requires that defendants on trial not be handcuffed as they enter the courtroom, to make sure the sight of cuffs doesn't unfairly influence the jury.

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There is nothing stupid about this law. However, in this case he had already attempted to bring two shanks to the court room that in my opinion is more than enough to make the law not applicable to him.

[Charles Lindsey]

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Originally posted by Grayfox:

quote:

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The law requires that defendants on trial not be handcuffed as they enter the courtroom, to make sure the sight of cuffs doesn't unfairly influence the jury.

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ya that makes real sense... i could rant hours on end about the stupidity of quoted law, but ill save you folks instead ill offer this: bet your ass that law will change real quick

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All they have to do is have suspects handcuffed till just outside the courtroom.

[LostInSpace]

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Originally posted by Cmdr Chavik:

quote:

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Originally posted by Grayfox:

quote:

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The law requires that defendants on trial not be handcuffed as they enter the courtroom, to make sure the sight of cuffs doesn't unfairly influence the jury.

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ya that makes real sense... i could rant hours on end about the stupidity of quoted law, but ill save you folks instead ill offer this: bet your ass that law will change real quick

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All they have to do is have suspects handcuffed till just outside the courtroom.

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Okay, how about this: Zapper wrist bracelets?

One ounce of trouble and zap he's contained.

[Charles Lindsey]

There was a Simpon's episode similiar to that with Psycho Bob.

[jamotto]

*update*

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By DANIEL YEE, Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA - The woman held hostage in her apartment by the suspect in Atlanta's courthouse slayings said Sunday that her ordeal began with the man sticking a gun in her side and tying her up, but ended with the weapons on the floor as he let her go to see her young daughter.

After hours of talking about the killings, their families and God, Ashley Smith said Brian Nichols "just wanted some normalness to his life."

Smith called 911 after she was freed, and police soon surrounded her suburban apartment complex. Nichols, who police say killed three people in the courthouse Friday and a federal agent later, gave up peacefully, waving a white towel in surrender.

"I honestly think when I looked at him that he didn't want to do it anymore," Smith, 26, said in a statement to reporters. If he didn't give up, she told him, "Lots more people are probably going get hurt and you're probably going to die."

Nichols allegedly overpowered a courthouse deputy escorting him to his rape trial Friday and took the deputy's gun, then entered the courtroom where his trial was being held and killed the presiding judge and court reporter. He also is accused of killing a deputy who tried to stop him outside the courthouse and a federal agent during his flight from authorities.

Smith said Nichols, 33, took her hostage in the parking lot outside her apartment when she returned from a store about 2 a.m.

"He said, `I'm not going to hurt you if you just do what I say,'" she said. "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anybody else."

She said Nichols tied her up with masking tape, a curtain and extension cord and told her to sit in the bathroom while he took a shower.

"I thought he was going to strangle me," she said.

She said as the night wore on, she tried to win his trust. Choking back tears, she said she told Nichols that her husband died four years ago in a stabbing and if he hurt her, her 5-year-old daughter wouldn't have a mother or father.

"I told him I was supposed to see my little girl the next morning at 10," Smith said. "I asked him if I could go and he said no."

He eventually untied her, and some of the fear lessened as they talked. Nichols told Smith he felt like "he was already dead," but Smith urged him to consider the fact that he was still alive a "miracle."

"You're here in my apartment for some reason," she told him, saying he might be destined to be caught and to spread the word of God to fellow prisoners.

He eventually put down the guns police say he took when he overwhelmed sheriff's deputies, putting them on the floor and later under a bed.

When morning came, Nichols was "overwhelmed" when Smith made him pancakes, she said. They watched television news reports about the slaying and the manhunt for Nichols.

"I cannot believe that's me on there," Smith quoted Nichols as saying.

Smith said Nichols didn't bring any weapons when he had her help him move a truck he had stolen away from the apartment complex.

When Nichols let Smith go, he said he wanted to stay at the apartment for a few more days, but she said she thought he knew she was going to call 911 after she left.

Police said they were impressed by the way Smith handled herself.

"She acted very cool and levelheaded. We don't normally see that in our profession," said Gwinnett County Police Officer Darren Moloney. "It was an absolutely best case scenario that happened, a complete opposite of what you expected to happen. We were prepared for the worst and got the best."

Nichols did not say anything when he was arrested but was "very calm, very compliant with officers' directions to him in securing his arrest. He was very cooperative," Gwinnett County Police Chief Charles Walters said Sunday.

Police say Nichols drove a stolen vehicle to the woman's Gwinnett County apartment complex, which he may have picked at random.

"The bottom line is that law enforcement had no idea where he was ÔÇö this victim, the community owes a tremendous debt to her because she kept her calm and provided us with the information that ultimately led to the arrest," Walters said.

Nichols could appear in federal court as early as Monday to face a charge of possession of a firearm by a person under indictment, the charge authorities are using to keep Nichols in custody while they sort out charging in the slayings, said U.S. Attorney David Nahmias.

The Fulton County District Attorney's Office hopes to formally charge Nichols with the new crimes within 30 days, spokesman Erik Friedly said Sunday.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard still would like to resolve Nichols' interrupted rape retrial, Friedly said. Nichols faced a life sentence if convicted.

In that case, Nichols was accused of bursting into his ex-girlfriend's home with a loaded machine gun, binding her with duct tape and sexually assaulting her over three days. Nichols claimed the sex was consensual.

However, Nichols' defense attorney for the rape charge said continuing with that case would "seem to be a colossal waste of time and tax money."

"Obviously, the rape charge pales in comparison to everything else he is facing," defense attorney Barry Hazen told NBC's "Today" on Sunday.

The deputy who was overpowered at the courthouse remained in critical condition Sunday, Grady Memorial Hospital officials said. Although hospital officials initially reported she may have suffered a grazing bullet wound to her forehead, they now believe she was struck on the head, said spokeswoman Denise Simpson.

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[Supreme Cmdr]

I just watched her entire interview about the ordeal, on CNN and I'm just speechless at her courage and fortitude.