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Georgia court sentences Atlanta gunman who killed judge to consecutive life terms

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A Superior Court of Georgia jury Saturday sentenced Brian Nichols to consecutively serve seven life terms, four terms of life without parole, and 485 years following his conviction last month for the murders of court and law enforcement personnel committed in a March 2005 escape from Atlanta's Fulton County Courthouse, where he was in the midst of a retrial for rape. While being escorted to court, he overpowered a Fulton County Sheriff's Deputy and took her gun. Nichols proceeded to search for and kill Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, Sheriff's Deputy Sgt. Hoyt Teasley, and US Customs agent David Wilhelm. He was taken into custody after what was described as the largest manhunt in Georgia state history. He later pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. US judges and court administrators have been increasingly focused on security issues following a spate of attacks, bombings and threats directed at judges, their families, and their workplaces in recent years. In April 2008 Ohio resident David Tuason was indicted for allegedly threatening to blow up the US Supreme Court building and attack black men, including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Other death threats have been reported against Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and now-retired Justice Sandra Day O'Conner.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on December 13, 2008 (boomark / email).