Closure elusive on third anniversary of courthouse shootings

From the Providence, RI Examiner:

Three years after a deadly courthouse shooting rampage, the victims’ families have yet to see justice served, the suspect’s murder trial is mired in funding questions and appeals appear likely if the accused killer is ultimately convicted.

Brian Nichols sits in a jail cell, awaiting a murder trial that has been continuously delayed because of problems paying for his defense. Relatives of the four people Nichols is charged with killing on March 11, 2005, also wait for an end to a case that remains an unhealed wound for the entire Fulton County Courthouse community.

Judge James Bodiford - appointed only last month to replace the previous presiding judge - has moved swiftly to push the Nichols case forward. He was expected to announce Monday when he will resume the trial.

Experts have been hired to evaluate Nichols as part of his planned mental health defense and some of them will likely be called to testify at trial. The county has agreed to pay $125,000 for a mental health assessment for Nichols - but it is unclear if those funds will cover money past due to Nichols’ experts and money that will be due to them in the future.

“Judges can order lawyers to go forward, but you cannot order an expert to perform an examination and testify,” said Stephen Bright, president of the Southern Center for Human Rights. “These are private citizens. They generally in my experience do not work for free.”

Under an agreement between Nichols’ lawyers and the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, approved by Bodiford on Thursday, the court found that the constitutional requirements for Nichols’ defense can be met with the revised trial budget, “subject to the availability of sufficient appropriations from the Georgia Legislature.”

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