Verdict in Ga. Courthouse Slaying Case: Guilty on All Counts
Developing: A verdict has been reached in a 54-count Georgia courthouse slaying case, and the defendant has been found guilty on all counts.
“A Fulton County jury found courthouse shooter Brian Nichols guilty of the March 11, 2005 murder of four people in a killing spree that rocked the nation and the judicial system of Georgia, and took more than three-and-a-half years to wind through the courts,” reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a breaking story.
It says Nichols, who had offered an insanity defense, didn’t react to the verdict. As discussed in earlier ABAJournal.com posts, he was a defendant in a rape case when he overpowered and beat his guard and then shot and killed the presiding judge and court reporter in the courtroom in which his rape case was to be tried. After escaping the courthouse, he killed others before he was apprehended.
Superior Court Judge James Bodiford asked the jury to return Monday morning, when it will begin deliberating whether to sentence to a life term or death in the capital case.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Jury Gets Ga. Courthouse Slaying Case”
