Nichols lawyers drop contempt of court motion

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Lawyers for courthouse shooting suspect Brian Nichols withdrew their motion Wednesday to hold the state public defender council in contempt of court for failing to pay defense fees. The court filing apparently removes the need for a hearing Monday to determine whether the council should face sanctions.

Last month, the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council told Judge Hilton Fuller, who is presiding over the Nichols case, it could not comply with the judge’s order to continue funding Nichols’ defense. Nichols’ lawyers then asked Fuller to hold a hearing to determine whether the council should be found in contempt of court.

Fuller, who recently suspended jury selection because of insufficient funding, agreed. But the judge then recused himself from the contempt case, and Rockdale County Superior Court Judge Sidney Nation was appointed to consider the issue and set a hearing for Monday. But that hearing now appears unnecessary.

In the motion filed Wednesday, Nichols’ lawyers said they are satisfied that the council does not have the necessary funds to pay. The lawyers said they believe it is “unwise” to proceed forward against the council “because it is now manifestly clear that the council simply lacks available funds and is mired in a budgetary crisis due to reduced appropriations from the General Assembly.”

Nichols’ lawyers say in the motion there are other ways to address the “as-yet unresolved funding problem” and that those alternatives require further examination.

The motion added that the halting of jury selection remedied the immediate problem of proceeding with the case without sufficient funding.

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