y2kcrawler
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2008
- Location
- Lake Wylie, SC
So here's the article:
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Accused of killing three people in a shooting rampage at an Atlanta, Georgia, courthouse and a fourth after his escape, Brian Nichols on Thursday pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity as jury selection began in his trial.
Brian Nichols is accused of killing a court reporter, a sheriff's deputy, a judge and a federal agent.
Nichols, 36, is charged with 54 counts, including murder, kidnapping, robbery and escape. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.
Prosecutors have said that Nichols confessed to his shootings shortly after his arrest. The defense does not dispute that he was the gunman, and instead is focusing on his mental state and ability to form the intent to kill. In court papers, the defense claims Nichols suffers from a disorder that "overmastered" his will to refrain from criminal acts.
Nichols is accused of overpowering a Fulton County sheriff's deputy, Cynthia Hall, on March 11, 2005, as he was being led into a courtroom where he was facing a second trial on rape charges.
He then allegedly took Hall's gun from a lockbox and fatally shot three people at the courthouse -- Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau and Fulton County Sheriff's Sgt. Hoyt Teasley, who attempted to apprehend him outside the building.
Nichols is also charged with killing David Wilhelm, a federal customs agent, hours later at Wilhelm's home in the Buckhead section of Atlanta.
Nichols was arrested 26 hours after his escape in suburban Gwinnett County, where he had held a woman hostage in her apartment. It was the largest manhunt in Georgia history,
Eighteen people -- 12 jurors and six alternates -- will be chosen as jurors. Attorneys in the case plan to question about 21 prospective jurors daily after the prospects watch a 38-minute video. Because of publicity the case received, a jury pool of hundreds has been assembled, meaning jury selection is likely to last for weeks.
Nichols' trial has been plagued by delays. In October, Judge Hilton Fuller abruptly halted jury selection on what would have been its third day, accepting a defense motion to stop the trial until questions of funding for Nichols' lawyers were resolved.
In January, Fuller removed himself from the case after a New Yorker magazine article written by Jeffrey Toobin, who is also a CNN legal analyst, quoted him as saying the "only defense" open to Nichols was insanity, "because everyone in the world knows he did it."
The defense says Nichols has been diagnosed with a disorder that involves delusions that he is persecuted, as well as grandiose thinking. Those suffering from such a disorder may function normally and behave rationally, defense attorneys said, but when they encounter circumstances that "touch their delusions, the delusional disorder will preoccupy them and instruct their thinking and actions."
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So my question is, if prosecution already knows defense was going to plea the insanity angle why not throw the book at em anyways? At this point, if you kill 4 people (3 of which was in a courtroom) and they all served for the US, couldnt they just skip trial and sentence him? He was already in jail for rape anyways. And if he is insane, what would be the point of keeping a convicted rapist and killer alive. Obviously he doesnt have the mental capacity to function normally in society so no point in keeping him alive in jail either. Skip the due process and fry the sucker!
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Accused of killing three people in a shooting rampage at an Atlanta, Georgia, courthouse and a fourth after his escape, Brian Nichols on Thursday pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity as jury selection began in his trial.
Nichols, 36, is charged with 54 counts, including murder, kidnapping, robbery and escape. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.
Prosecutors have said that Nichols confessed to his shootings shortly after his arrest. The defense does not dispute that he was the gunman, and instead is focusing on his mental state and ability to form the intent to kill. In court papers, the defense claims Nichols suffers from a disorder that "overmastered" his will to refrain from criminal acts.
Nichols is accused of overpowering a Fulton County sheriff's deputy, Cynthia Hall, on March 11, 2005, as he was being led into a courtroom where he was facing a second trial on rape charges.
He then allegedly took Hall's gun from a lockbox and fatally shot three people at the courthouse -- Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau and Fulton County Sheriff's Sgt. Hoyt Teasley, who attempted to apprehend him outside the building.
Nichols is also charged with killing David Wilhelm, a federal customs agent, hours later at Wilhelm's home in the Buckhead section of Atlanta.
Nichols was arrested 26 hours after his escape in suburban Gwinnett County, where he had held a woman hostage in her apartment. It was the largest manhunt in Georgia history,
Eighteen people -- 12 jurors and six alternates -- will be chosen as jurors. Attorneys in the case plan to question about 21 prospective jurors daily after the prospects watch a 38-minute video. Because of publicity the case received, a jury pool of hundreds has been assembled, meaning jury selection is likely to last for weeks.
Nichols' trial has been plagued by delays. In October, Judge Hilton Fuller abruptly halted jury selection on what would have been its third day, accepting a defense motion to stop the trial until questions of funding for Nichols' lawyers were resolved.
In January, Fuller removed himself from the case after a New Yorker magazine article written by Jeffrey Toobin, who is also a CNN legal analyst, quoted him as saying the "only defense" open to Nichols was insanity, "because everyone in the world knows he did it."
Also in January, Nichols' defense attorneys said in court filings they intended to use a defense of mentalillness, claiming that Nichols suffered from a "delusional compulsion" at the time of the slayings.The defense says Nichols has been diagnosed with a disorder that involves delusions that he is persecuted, as well as grandiose thinking. Those suffering from such a disorder may function normally and behave rationally, defense attorneys said, but when they encounter circumstances that "touch their delusions, the delusional disorder will preoccupy them and instruct their thinking and actions."
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So my question is, if prosecution already knows defense was going to plea the insanity angle why not throw the book at em anyways? At this point, if you kill 4 people (3 of which was in a courtroom) and they all served for the US, couldnt they just skip trial and sentence him? He was already in jail for rape anyways. And if he is insane, what would be the point of keeping a convicted rapist and killer alive. Obviously he doesnt have the mental capacity to function normally in society so no point in keeping him alive in jail either. Skip the due process and fry the sucker!
