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Court Rampage Trial Starts With Tape

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The Associated Press

Published: September 23, 2008

ATLANTA - Prosecutors played a haunting audiotape of a 2005 courthouse shooting rampage that left four people dead as they launched their case against the alleged gunman Monday, while his attorneys said he was so deluded he believed he was carrying out a rebellion.
Brian Nichols could face the death penalty for the shootings of a judge, court reporter and sheriff's deputy at the Fulton County Courthouse, and a federal agent later that day. Nichols, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His lawyers say he couldn't tell right from wrong.

During opening statements in Nichols' oft-delayed trial, Fulton County prosecutor Kellie Hill called him a "conniving, vicious, cold-blooded, remorseless, evil and extremely dangerous killer" who carefully planned the attack and methodically sought out his targets.

"He's not insane," she said. "He had a plan. And we're going to bring you proof of the plan."

Prosecutors say Nichols was being escorted to a courtroom where he was being tried for rape on March 11, 2005, when he beat a deputy guarding him, stole her gun and went on a shooting spree.

As Hill played a brief audio clip of a routine court hearing interrupted by gunshots and terrified screams, Nichols sat silently, his eyes downcast. Relatives of the victims wept and Nichols' father abruptly stalked out of the courtroom.

The defense team countered that Nichols was "swallowed whole" with a belief that he was a slave rebelling against authority. Although others looked at the judge with respect, Nichols saw him as an enemy, said defense attorney Henderson Hill.

"What you will see is that these delusions were real for Mr. Nichols," he said. "He believed in them as you believe that ice is cold, that night follows day. These were truisms for him."

It has taken more than three years to bring the case to a trial, which could last until Christmas.

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