Gunman guilty in Atlanta courthouse rampage
ATLANTA - A man who launched a courthouse shooting rampage during his rape trial, leading to the deaths of a judge and three others, was convicted of murder yesterday more than three years after he turned the city's seat of justice into a crime scene.
ATLANTA - A man who launched a courthouse shooting rampage during his rape trial, leading to the deaths of a judge and three others, was convicted of murder yesterday more than three years after he turned the city's seat of justice into a crime scene.
Brian Nichols, 36, could face the death penalty for killing a judge, a court reporter, a sheriff's deputy and a federal agent.
Nichols had confessed to the killings but contended he was legally insane and gripped by a delusional compulsion that he was a slave rebelling against authority. Jurors rejected that argument, finding him guilty of murder and dozens of other counts, including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, hijacking a motor vehicle and armed robbery.
During the six-week trial, Nichols' attorneys and a psychologist said phone conversations while he was in jail were evidence of his delusions. A psychiatrist who testified for the state said he found Nichols was mentally ill although he would not diagnose him as delusional.
In closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutors said Nichols concocted his delusions to try to avoid capital punishment.
Nichols was being escorted to a courtroom in downtown Atlanta where he was being tried for rape March 11, 2005, when he beat a deputy guarding him, stole her gun, and went on a shooting rampage. He killed Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, and Deputy Hoyt Teasley in a 12-minute span, then fled to the busy street outside the courthouse.
He escaped downtown Atlanta in a stolen car and managed to evade the hundreds of police officers searching for him through the night. He headed for Atlanta's posh Buckhead neighborhood, where he shot and killed federal agent David Wilhelm outside the house he was renovating.
He was captured the next day after a woman he took hostage, Ashley Smith Robinson, alerted police to his whereabouts.
