courtroom killing

Forums: News, Georgia, Atlanta
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Quote:

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A defendant grabbed the pistol of a deputy on the way to a courtroom, injured the female deputy and went into the room where he fatally shot a Fulton County Superior Court judge and a court reporter Friday morning at a downtown courthouse, Atlanta police said.

The suspect then fled into the streets, killed another deputy outside the courthouse and drove away in a carjacked vehicle, Deputy Chief Alan Dreher said.

A search for the suspect, identified by police as Brian Nichols, 33, was under way in Georgia and the neighboring states of Alabama, Tennessee and the Carolinas. Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman said Nichols is considered armed and dangerous. . . .

Nichols was reportedly facing a retrial for rape and kidnapping in Barnes' courtroom, after a first trial resulted in a hung jury. He is described as being an African-American male, 33 years old, about 6 feet, 1 inch tall and weighing 210 pounds.

Has anyone heard whether he has been caught? Off hand, I don't remember if Georgia is a death penalty state. If so, I think Nichols will be facing the death penalty now . . . and rightfully so.

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 6,213 • Replies: 68

No top replies

death penalty
Death Penalty History

Quote:

Legal challenges to the death penalty culminated in a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 153 (1972), which struck down federal and state capital punishment laws permitting wide discretion in the application of the death penalty. Characterizing these laws as "arbitrary and capricious," the majority ruled that they constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the due process guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment. . . .

More than 600 death row inmates who had been sentenced to death between 1967 and 1972 had their death sentences lifted as a result of Furman, but the numbers quickly began to build up again as states enacted revised legislation tailored to satisfy the Supreme Court's objections to arbitrary imposition of death sentences. . . .

In 1977, the Supreme Court declared in Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584 (1977) that applying the death penalty in rape cases was unconstitutional because the sentence was disproportionate to the crime. Coker resulted in the removal of twenty inmates -- three whites and 17 blacks -- awaiting execution on rape convictions from death rows around the country.

In Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586 (1978), the high court forced a number of states to again revise their death penalty statutes by ruling that the sentencing authority in a capital case must consider every possible mitigating factor to the crime rather than limiting, as Ohio had, the mitigating factors that could be considered to a specific list. . . .

Since the 1976 Gregg decision upholding the constitutionality of Georgia's death penalty law, numerous states have reinstated capital punishment in their statutes. The most recent state to enact a death penalty law was New York in 1995. As of January 1998, 38 states and the federal government have capital punishment laws in effect. Alaska, eleven other states -- Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin -- and the District of Columbia do not have a death penalty. Sites providing information on the current status of the death penalty throughout the nation are available on the Death Penalty Statistics page. . . .

It appears that Georgia is still a death penalty state. I don't think the State of Georgia will show Nichols any mercy . . . killing a judge, a court reporter, and a deputy to escape from justice on rape/kidnapping charges will definitely land Nichols on death row . . . providing they capture him alive.

0 Replies

Georgia DOES have the death penalty. I am amazed that this could happen at all. A person who has kidnapped and raped is obvously a dangerous offender. Where was the security in the courtroom?

0 Replies

That makes two such cases, Debra. The other was a judge whose mother and husband were killed.

0 Replies

As of now, he has not been captured and he is on his fourth stolen car.

0 Replies

It's mortifying . . . why wasn't he shackled in a manner that would have prevented him from getting his hands on the deputy's gun?

The man is obviously ruthless, cares nothing about the lives of others, and desperate to retain his freedom . . . but there is no possible way for him to evade justice. He's a lunatic killer. He has to know that no matter where he goes or where he hides, law enforcement authorities will find him. His actions make him a dead man no matter how you look at the situation. He will either be killed when they find him and attempt to capture him; or he will be convicted of murder and put to death.

The killings were senseless . . . the moment he grabbed the deputy's gun, the lunatic forfeited his own life.

0 Replies

I hope and pray that he doesn't kill more innocent people / bystanders before his flee from justice ends.

0 Replies

Letty wrote:

That makes two such cases, Debra. The other was a judge whose mother and husband were killed.

I haven't read about this case . . . were they revenge killings by a disgruntled defendant?

0 Replies

The report of his being on his fourth stolen car might have been in error. The same broadcast that gave that story said the police believe he is still in the original stolen green Honda.

0 Replies

Debra, I can't cite names and places, but the man who killed this judge's husband and mother was after her. It seems that he had brought a malpractice suit against doctors who he claimed destroyed his face, calling it an act of terrorism, but his complaint was thrown out after many attempts, by this particular woman. He later killed himself and left a note explaining all. Very sad situation for everyone involved.

0 Replies

The murders (of the judge's husband and mother) happened in Chicago. It was thought that the deaths might have been motivated by a white supremacist leader whose case she ruled on, but it now appears to be the work of the man Letty cites.

0 Replies

This is the case of a desperate man being aided by the idiotic PC Policy of letting a single, small framed woman be his escort.

http://www.foxnews.com/images/156798/8_22_031105_nicols.jpg

This guy was caught trying to smuggle in shanks recently and there was a buzz around the court house that he wasn't going to go quietly. 6'1", 200 pound violent offenders are guaranteed by the Supreme Court to be allowed to change into street clothes for trial... which means they should be accompanied by at least 2 very strong men... not a sissy... not a woman. This poor woman's death, along with the other two victims, was very preventable by simply instituting a common sense policy. I have little doubt that the worthless piece of sh!t pictured above's life will be extinguished in a hail of police bullets but there will still be some blame to go around.

All people are NOT created equal. This is not a job for a "small framed" woman.

0 Replies

He took the gun out of the officer's holster, I believe. This has never happened to a large-framed male cop?

0 Replies

OCCOM BILL wrote:

I have little doubt that the worthless piece of sh!t pictured above's life will be extinguished in a hail of police bullets but there will still be some blame to go around.

All people are NOT created equal. This is not a job for a "small framed" woman.

I agree with you Bill. Common sense ought to dictate that you have to meet unbridled strength and determination with even greater strength and determination. The security of people's lives required that law enforcement authorities sufficiently supervise this extremely dangerous offender. One small woman, even if she was carrying a gun in her holster, was wholly insufficient.

0 Replies

D'artagnan wrote:

He took the gun out of the officer's holster, I believe. This has never happened to a large-framed male cop?

With a powerful well trained man the fight begins when the clever A-hole grabs the gun. With the small framed woman; that's when it's over... could that be more obvious?

Moreover, since most people are cowards deep down; the mere presence of an imposing presence would reduce the chance of this kind of thing in the first place. There's a reason nightclubs prefer giant football player types over smallish 3rd degree black belts for bouncers, D-Art. This is an idiotic PC-Misguided Policy that should be changed. Use your head.

0 Replies

Following your logic, no women should be cops. And only really big guys should be.

Am I using my head now?

0 Replies

D'artagnan wrote:

Following your logic, no women should be cops. And only really big guys should be.

Am I using my head now?

Not even close. That is typical PC Nonsense. Moronic arguments like that may be part of the reason 3 people died today. There are plenty of police assignments that don't call for physical prowess. Transporting violent offenders isn't one of them. But you'll just ignore that in favor of pretending the obvious size differential is inconsequential. It's not... and on the same day that 3 people died after a small woman was overpowered by a violent criminal; the foolishness in your position is beyond obvious. Get a grip, man.

0 Replies

And you can quit being insulting.

By cop, I mean someone who carries a gun and enforces the law.

What roles should women have in law enforcement? Supervising school crossings?

0 Replies

My God, wild Bill. Has this turned into a debate about women and their worth? I think that you have gone a bit over the top with D'artagnan. Debra is simply reporting the news. We have no idea of what actually happened because we were NOT at the scene. All we know is what the media have reported at this point.

0 Replies

D'artagnan wrote:

And you can quit being insulting.

My opening post was very critical of the idiotic policy that allowed a single "small framed" woman to be the only thing between a desperate violent criminal and additional victims. You volunteered to defend the idiocy, so you have no room for complaint that I'm being insulting. It is the idiotic policy I'm insulting, not you. To the extent your defense of idiotic policy and your parroting of the silly arguments that cause it reflect badly on you; take inventory of your own words if you wish to change it.

D'artagnan wrote:

By cop, I mean someone who carries a gun and enforces the law.

What roles should women have in law enforcement? Supervising school crossings?

Among others, yes. It matters little who's standing on the safe side of service revolver or SWAT Rifle. From dispatch to Detective there are lots of jobs that will seldom call for an imposing physical presence. It is beyond idiotic to ignore the obvious. A "small framed" female is NOT the ideal candidate for walking desperate violent offenders to court absent shackles and in street clothes. This isn't male chauvinism (though I am sometimes guilty of that). This is common sense.

Letty, it's only a debate about women and their worth to those who choose to ignore the obvious in favor of pretending women are somehow slighted by recognition of their smaller stature. You'll notice my opening post didn't even single out women... or anyone... but the majority of us who aren't big strong healthy men. Three body bags were filled today, possibly in part because of this foolishness.

0 Replies

courtroom killing

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know