Fresh Loaf

The jury now has been deliberating for three days on whether to send convicted courthouse killer Brian Nichols to his death.

The guy shoots a judge and court reporter dead in their own courtroom; kills a deputy en route to his next crime, a violent carjacking; and later guns down a federal agent — and it takes THREE DAYS to decide his fate?

The latest from the AJC is that the Judge Rowland Barnes’ widow is “almost numb just from waiting.”

According to the story, the jury will reconvene on Saturday if it can’t reach a decision today.

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During a hearing today to determine what evidence will be admitted in the high-profile (and high-cost) Brian Nichols trial, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard took the stand to defend one of his former prosecutors, according to a story posted on AJC.com.

Former assistant district attorney Gayle Abramson, who’d been prosecuting Nichols on a violent rape charge when he went on a homicidal shooting rampage at the Fulton County courthouse, was accused by Nichols’ defense of “prosecutorial misconduct.” The defense pointed to claims made by a murder suspect in an unrelated case, who was caught on a wiretap accusing Abramson of using drugs in the past.

For some reason, Nichols’ attorneys are arguing that the drug allegations against Abramson render their client ineligible for the death penalty. Yeah, right.

According to the AJC.com story, Howard called the accusations a waste of time:

“I just think it is extremely reaching. I just don’t see what the connection is. … The information on that wiretap was fake; it was phony; it was fabricated, so I didn’t really give any credit to what it said.”

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Cobb County Superior Court Judge James Bodiford is determined to get the Brian Nichols trial back on track. Yesterday, he set a July 10 trial date for the man accused of a Fulton County Courthouse shooting spree three years ago that left a judge, a court reporter and two law enforcement officers dead.

There’s just one hitch: How will the Nichols defense team be paid?

The trial has been on hold for months because the Georgia Capital Defenders unit of the state’s public defender system is broke. The program — which handles all indigent death penalty cases in Georgia — has become the favorite whipping boy of Republican lawmakers, who continue to cut funding for indigent defense.

It’s no coincidence that the trial date comes immediately after the state’s new fiscal year starts July 1. That means a fresh infusion of cash into the program.

This week’s CL cover story — which will be online later this afternoon — delves into the issues surrounding the Nichols trial and the crisis that has stalled death penalty cases all over the state. I’ll update this afternoon with the link.

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