Judge in courthouse shooting case stepping down
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
The trial judge in the beleaguered death penalty case of Fulton County Courthouse rampage suspect Brian Nichols announced Wednesday he is removing himself from the case.
Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller’s decision came just one day after he was quoted in an article on the New Yorker’s Web site about why Nichols plans to use a mental health defense: “That’s their only defense, because everyone in the world knows he did it.”
Fuller said Tuesday he didn’t recall making the statement and he had agreed to talk with the New Yorker reporter, Jeffrey Toobin, on background without direct quotes. Toobin, a former prosecutor who is now a senior legal analyst for CNN, responded by saying that the conversation was “clearly on the record.”
Fuller sent a letter Wednesday to Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Doris Downs announcing that he would step down.
“Judicial impartiality, real or perceived is a critical element of the trial process. … Whether I was accurately quoted is immaterial. What is material is the perception created by that attribution. For that reason, I hereby recuse myself from further proceedings in this case.”
The quagmire just got a bit stickier. Read the entire story.
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3 comments
One wonders if Judge Fuller leaked his comments on purpose in order to give himself an easy way out. The question now is: can we get a judge that treats both sides equally?
He probably was sick of the whole mess and wanted out.
As to an impartial judge? I’d settle for a judge that won’t bow to political pressure.
Protecting our rights by taking others away, this seems unending. Yesterday it was sex offenders and D.U.I. offenders. Today it’s terrorists. Tomorrow it’s any felon. The day after it’s non-tax payers and child support slackers. Then people who don’t vote or anarchist, misdemeanor offenders of specific crimes. Which is the case now really, 90% of sex offenses were misdemeanors and many of which now consider you a “predator” with life long sentences,loss of rights, not to mention their families safety. Don’t pretend it’s not true, one innocent man was killed by a vigilante who went to the wrong house, let alone the wrong person. So if you think about it like this, how many more laws will be deemed “serious”? Think firearm offenders, intoxicated offenders, driving or vehicular offenders, monetary offenders, identity offenders, or even parental offenders. Right now Political offenders are secretly charged and sentenced and sent to “political prisons” for an undetermined limit of time with no rights to a lawyer or right to a trial, let alone a speedy trial. We’ve lost our right to privacy, “patriot act”, and soon the “patriot II”, for what, our protection!
Now they want to make this sex offender thing a medical issue! Don’t you realize what that means?! They can turn misdemeanors into a life long sentence, imprisoned inside a “mental hospital”. Now categorize all the mental issues and things that can be “mental issues”. Do you fall under any of those categories? Could you be labeled clinically depressed, stressed, delusional, or how about “alcoholic”, or any other? I bet they have a class for you.. How far should they take those charges and sentences?
What are the people so afraid of? I have been labeled a sex offender, status (predator). The charge “Corruption of a minor”, I have taken psychological tests, they said I was completely normal. I scored as low as you can on every test that was supposed to deem you a threat to society in any way even recidivism (re offending). I took a plea because it was my word against a (pretty) girls and the sentence was too great to trust a jury. I was then told I was not to get released until I pronounced guilt and then told if I said I was innocent following my release I would be charged with discrediting the victim and be sentenced again. My (public defender) told me that “since it’s election time I would be found guilty if I took it to trial, even if it was my word against hers “. He said “they always believe the girl”. How do you prove it never happened? Where were you a year and a half ago on this whatever date, NOW PROVE IT, how? I couldn’t. I didn’t know where I was, how am I supposed to prove. All they had to say was “he did it”.
I have tried to take this back to court completely unsuccessfully. I paid a real lawyer $1700 three years ago and he won’t do anything, and I mean nothing. I’ve tried to get other lawyers and they won’t hear my case, and the courts “accidentally” lost my transcripts. They charge me $100 a year to go through this. It has been almost ten years, my family and I have been forced into homelessness because of a new daycare, I can’t get a job or go to my son’s events at school, and EVERYBODY assumes I’m some monster.
The truth is YOU DON’T CARE do you? You don’t have to answer, I know you don’t. It has no bearing on your life, only my guilt does because you feel in control that way.
Tell Ya What
Do all the things you wish, like chemical castration, RFID chips, bracelets, lifetime imprisonment, murder me, place signs in my yard, come to my house, call me, go to all my neighbors, talk about me, put me in the news, stick up your flyers, strip me of my rights and dignity, steal all my happiness, mess with my car, break my windows, spray paint my house, evict me, assault me, take my job, stigmatize, ostracize, ban me from anything public you wish, humiliate me, joke about me, spit on me, throw thing at me, and even harass my family and children. I don’t care anymore, I have endured almost all of these things the past ten years, and I really don’t care anymore.
You know why, and this makes me truly content when I say this… You’re Next.
I can tell you this. You won’t believe me, or do anything about it. It’s so ironic.
It’s so funny to me, the circle of life, it’s a crazy thing. I’m probably no better than you since that makes me feel pleased but I sadly can’t help it. I only feel bad for the undeserving.
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