There is extensive coverage of the Nichol's jury verdict, calls for a federal prosecution, calls for changes in Georgia law, and reflections on the crime and its impact.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has an index of its complete coverage, "The State vs Brian Gene Nichols." Law.com's Fulton County Daily Report also has an index of its coverage, "The Courthouse Shootings Case."
Let's begin with an AP report via the Washington Post, "Nichols sentence may lead to death penalty changes." It's written by Greg Bluestein.
Nichols was sentenced Saturday to life in prison without parole after a jury failed to deliver a unanimous death sentence for the murders of four people. Minutes after the sentencing, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard became among the first to call for a revived effort to tweak the death penalty rules.
"There should be some consideration of non-unanimous verdicts so that the minority of people that don't consider death won't get a chance to decide the outcome," he said at an emotional post-trial news conference.
He and other policymakers say the Nichols case could become a rallying cry for legislation aimed at preventing a "rogue" death penalty opponent on a jury from sabotaging a capital case.
"Without question you'll see that bill come back," said state Rep. David Ralston, who chairs a key House judiciary committee. "People are very concerned whether jurors are being truthful about their feelings about the death penalty, and whether they are really committed to following the law."
Twice in the last two years, the House passed proposals to allow judges to impose a death sentence if one or two jurors vote against it. Both times the plan was defeated in the Senate, where it faced fierce opposition from GOP attorneys who warned it would put life-or-death decisions in the hands of a judge instead of a jury.
"Life for courthouse killer draws talk of federal prosecution, new jury laws," is the Fulton County Daily Report article by Greg Land.
Judge James G. Bodiford on Saturday morning gave Nichols four sentences of life without parole, plus 485 years and seven more sentences of life in prison.
“I'm giving you the maximum, every day I could,” said Bodiford, who on Friday night dismissed a jury that spent almost 40 hours deliberating before announcing it was deadlocked 9 to 3 in favor of sending Nichols to the death chamber.
A disappointed Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard on Saturday suggested that if federal prosecutors tried Nichols for his slaying of customs agent David Wilhelm, Nichols could ultimately be sentenced to death.
Patrick Crosby, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney David Nahmias, issued a statement Saturday that said, “We will review the evidence, the applicable federal law and policy, and the other circumstances of the case to determine whether and how to proceed.”
Howard said he would meet with Nahmias next week to discuss possible federal charges against Nichols for the slaying of Wilhelm. It was unclear Saturday whether federal prosecutors would be able to get past guarantees against double jeopardy and find an appropriate law under which to prosecute Nichols for a capital crime.
"Legislature urged to revamp death penalty law," is also from Saturday's AJ-C.
District Attorney Paul Howard called for the state Legislature Saturday to change Georgia’s death-penalty law requiring a unanimous jury decision for a defendant to be sent to Death Row.
By a 9-3 hung jury decision on Friday, Howard lost a lengthy and costly effort to have Brian Nichols sentenced to death for the March 11, 2005 Fulton County Courthouse killings.
Howard said a minority of jurors were determined that Nichols get a life sentence, whether or not he deserved to be sentenced to death.
“We’re not asking for favors, ” we are just asking for a level playing field,” Howard said. “I have talked to two jurors and the both say that some people showed up for jury duty with their minds already made up and never entered into a meaningful discussion of a death sentence. That means we don’t get a fair trial.”
Howard wants the law changed so that unanimous verdicts are not required in the penalty phase of death-penalty cases after jurors have already unanimously found the murderer guilty of crime that involved special circumstances, such as killing a law officer, killing during a crime such as a robbery, or killing while in custody.
"Failure to win death penalty resonates," is from the Sunday AJ-C.
If Brian Nichols doesn’t get the death penalty, who does?
That question is likely to resonate from the chambers of the Legislature to the halls of justice as lawmakers, lawyers and judges consider the implications from a multi-year, multimillion-dollar failed effort that will serve as a legal milepost.
The notorious case has set the stage for a renewed battle over capital punishment.
Within an hour after Nichols’ sentencing, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard and other proponents of the death penalty said they will push again for laws making it easier to send killers to death row when juries are conflicted.
But opponents will argue to judges that the case —- the most expensive in Georgia history —- is proof that the death penalty can never be administered fairly.
“An awful lot of money has been spent on this case,” said Stephen Bright, an Atlanta lawyer and nationally renowned opponent of capital punishment. “And for no purpose, except to have a show trial at enormous expense that has damaged Georgia’s court system in many ways.”
Even so, Bright expressed astonishment that three jurors did not vote for death in such a notorious case. “As Governor Blagojevich would say, that’s ‘bleeping’ amazing,” he said.
The holdout jurors enabled Nichols to avoid death by lethal injection. The effects of the deadlock will reach far beyond Nichols himself.
“If any case should get the death penalty, you’d think it would be this case,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center. “This may become one of those cases that say to the populace at large, ‘Why are we doing this?’ “
Dieter, who opposes capital punishment, said numerous capital cases cost millions of dollars and never result in an execution. “Spending money on the death penalty is like building a bridge to nowhere,” he said.
Everyone knew Nichols would spend the rest of his life behind bars. The only question was how he would die: naturally or at the hand of the state.
Encouraged by the families of victims, Howard refused to make a deal for anything less than death.
It took more than three years to get the case to trial. In the meantime, the soaring cost of Nichols’ defense —- estimated at more than $3 million —- ravaged Georgia’s public defender system. The cost of the criminal investigation and prosecution could equal or surpass that, legal experts say.
And:
With prosecutors unable to get a death sentence in a case as aggravated as that of Nichols, defense lawyers predicted challenges will be raised in future capital cases. One claim will be that Georgia’s death penalty is being applied in a disproportionate and arbitrary manner. Nichols killed four people, including officers of the law, and he didn’t get death. Defense lawyers will argue any future defendants who killed fewer people or killed less heinously do not deserve it either.
Atlanta lawyer Tom Dunn, who handles death-penalty appeals, said he wasn’t surprised at the trial’s outcome because Georgia’s death penalty historically has been imposed so randomly. He predicted appeals to Georgia’s highest court.
“The Supreme Court of Georgia has avoided dealing with the randomness of being sentenced to death, highlighted by cases such as Nichols, by simply ignoring the many cases of death-eligible murder which do not result in death,” he said.
Atlanta lawyer Chris Adams, former head of the state’s capital defender office, said the Nichols verdict will affect courtrooms across the state.
“This case is going to have a lot of prosecutors stepping back and asking, ‘Is this a Fulton County issue or an issue I need to evaluate in my judicial circuit?’ ” he said. “Jurors all over Georgia are going to know about this case from Atlanta. It’s going to be an undercurrent that will make its way into a lot of deliberations in capital cases.”
Earlier coverage begins with this post.
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