I chose to research Brian Nichols, the mad man behind what some would call a courthouse massacre. Brian Gene Nichols was born December 10, 1971 in Baltimore, Maryland. Family members and friends considered Nichols to be a very normal person and claim he was a normal young child growing up, so they were all surprised at his actions.
Nichols is accused of killing Judge Rowland W. Barnes, court reporter Julie Brandau, and deputy sheriff Sgt. Hoyt Teasley at a Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia on March 11, 2005. Also he is a suspect in the murder of U.S custom agent David Wilhelm on March 12, 2005. Nichols was on trial for rape when he was being taken to put on presentable clothing so that the jury wouldn’t be prejudiced against him. He attacked sheriff deputy Cynthia Hall. It was later reported that she suffered bruising to her brain and some fractures around her face. The Hospital announced her conditions as critical but she survived.
After Nichols escaped from the sheriff he went into the old courthouse where his trial was being held. He then shot and killed Judge Rowland W. Barnes, the court room reporter and also a pursing deputy outside the courtroom. During this drastic escape he attempted to car jack several cars including a tow truck and then he later attacked Don O’Briant a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and took his Honda Accord.
As soon as all of this was known to the world. Mayor Shirley Franklin announced that there would be a reward of $60,000 for information leading to Nichols’ arrest. Later on that night Nichols supposedly approached Ashley Smith at an apartment complex in Duluth, Georgia. He reportedly told her that he was a wanted man and then forced her into her home and tied her up in her bathroom. She claims she then told him about her five year old daughter, she tried to reason with him. Smith was held several hours in her apartment. In an interview with CNN she states that Nichols asked her for marijuana but she told him she only had ice, also known as methamphetamine. She also stated that he tried to force her to use the drugs with him, but she refused and told him about her trying to recover from drug use. Smith says she talked to Nichols about the situation and claims to have helped him decide that it was time for him to turn himself in. The following day Nichols let Smith leave her apartment to visit her daughter, and as soon as she could, Smith stated to MSN that she called 911.
The Local law enforcement, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Federal bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol all responded to the scene. The SWAT team quickly surrounded the apartment; Nichols surprisingly surrendered peacefully and was taken away. At first many people thought that Smith and Nichols were in on this whole thing together and that they had a prior relationship but later decided that she was chosen randomly.
On May 5, 2005 Nichols was indicted by a Fulton County grand jury on 54 counts including murder, kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault, battery, theft and car jacking. Nichols attorneys stated that he was willing to plead guilty as long as he no longer faced the death penalty. Attorneys have disclosed that they will be defending Nichols on the basis of mental health. They are trying to claim that he wasn’t in his right state of mind and he is a disturbed person.
It also stated in a article that I read on that Nichols attorneys filed a proposal saying that they don’t have enough money to go forward with the trial. They also stated that they expected to run out of money by October or November, before jury selection is even complete, making it impossible to provide Nichols with his constitutionally guaranteed defense. All this notorious case has ever been about is not whether Nichols is guilty of killing innocent people but whether he will face the death penalty.
I gathered all my information from websites like http://www.11alive.com/ , http://www.cnn.com/ and also some information from http://www.wikipedia.com/ . They all talked about the situation in their point of view. People have different ways of telling the story the way they want to tell it but these three websites told their stories in a similar kind of way.
Nichols is accused of killing Judge Rowland W. Barnes, court reporter Julie Brandau, and deputy sheriff Sgt. Hoyt Teasley at a Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia on March 11, 2005. Also he is a suspect in the murder of U.S custom agent David Wilhelm on March 12, 2005. Nichols was on trial for rape when he was being taken to put on presentable clothing so that the jury wouldn’t be prejudiced against him. He attacked sheriff deputy Cynthia Hall. It was later reported that she suffered bruising to her brain and some fractures around her face. The Hospital announced her conditions as critical but she survived.
After Nichols escaped from the sheriff he went into the old courthouse where his trial was being held. He then shot and killed Judge Rowland W. Barnes, the court room reporter and also a pursing deputy outside the courtroom. During this drastic escape he attempted to car jack several cars including a tow truck and then he later attacked Don O’Briant a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and took his Honda Accord.
As soon as all of this was known to the world. Mayor Shirley Franklin announced that there would be a reward of $60,000 for information leading to Nichols’ arrest. Later on that night Nichols supposedly approached Ashley Smith at an apartment complex in Duluth, Georgia. He reportedly told her that he was a wanted man and then forced her into her home and tied her up in her bathroom. She claims she then told him about her five year old daughter, she tried to reason with him. Smith was held several hours in her apartment. In an interview with CNN she states that Nichols asked her for marijuana but she told him she only had ice, also known as methamphetamine. She also stated that he tried to force her to use the drugs with him, but she refused and told him about her trying to recover from drug use. Smith says she talked to Nichols about the situation and claims to have helped him decide that it was time for him to turn himself in. The following day Nichols let Smith leave her apartment to visit her daughter, and as soon as she could, Smith stated to MSN that she called 911.
The Local law enforcement, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Federal bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol all responded to the scene. The SWAT team quickly surrounded the apartment; Nichols surprisingly surrendered peacefully and was taken away. At first many people thought that Smith and Nichols were in on this whole thing together and that they had a prior relationship but later decided that she was chosen randomly.
On May 5, 2005 Nichols was indicted by a Fulton County grand jury on 54 counts including murder, kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault, battery, theft and car jacking. Nichols attorneys stated that he was willing to plead guilty as long as he no longer faced the death penalty. Attorneys have disclosed that they will be defending Nichols on the basis of mental health. They are trying to claim that he wasn’t in his right state of mind and he is a disturbed person.
It also stated in a article that I read on that Nichols attorneys filed a proposal saying that they don’t have enough money to go forward with the trial. They also stated that they expected to run out of money by October or November, before jury selection is even complete, making it impossible to provide Nichols with his constitutionally guaranteed defense. All this notorious case has ever been about is not whether Nichols is guilty of killing innocent people but whether he will face the death penalty.
I gathered all my information from websites like http://www.11alive.com/ , http://www.cnn.com/ and also some information from http://www.wikipedia.com/ . They all talked about the situation in their point of view. People have different ways of telling the story the way they want to tell it but these three websites told their stories in a similar kind of way.
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