Atlanta courthouse killer avoids death penalty

Jury voted 9-3 for execution, but it must be unanimous.

$3 million-plus to prosecute the guiltiest son-of-a-bitch in history, and they still don't get a death sentence. Outstanding use of resources.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/12/12/brian_nichols_tape.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

 

I will preface this by saying that I'm against the death penalty. Hate it. Loathe it. Got two bumper stickers on it.

You put a gun to me, and say, hey, kcmIV, you gotta be cool with one death penalty case in the last couple of years or else.

And then I'll say yeah, Brian Nichols.

Just FWIW. And yeah, a tremendous fucking waste of resources.

 

And also, I have no problems with death penalties having to be unanimous. I mean, fuck. Death, man.

 

I knew on March 12, 2005, when he walked out of that building and didn't get shot, that this was the way it was going to go. I was so hoping he'd have a gun drawn so the cops wouldn't play around with him, because I didn't want to pay for his trial and I didn't want to pay for the rest of his sorry life. Now, I'm on the hook for both. His time, while confined, will be easy. Dude killed a cop, a judge and a federal agent. He'll be everybody's best friend in the pen.

 

Actually, the end of the AJC story said it's possible he'll serve his time at the federal Supermax facility in Colorado, for which he's eligible because of the federal agent. 23 hours a day in solitary, an hour of solitary exercise. Basically no human contact at all. And that would be the case even if he stayed in state prison, because he's a flight risk.

 

Don't see how he'd go to Supermax since he was convicted in state court, not federal.

 

But I will add that Supermax is the way to treat murderers like this one — if you throw them into gen pop, they're the top of the food chain. And I am categorically against the death penalty.

 

Well, that makes me feel marginally better. Still wish he'd given the cops a reason to shoot him.

 

I'm more interested to see what happened to him after he got caught.

We had a guy here that, while in custody, took a cop's gun, killed the cop and leapt out a fourth-floor window. He took on one foot and was caught like 20 minutes later.

When he arrived for the arraignment, you could tell the cops went to town on him. There was a big controversy about it and the police responded "He got those wounds from falling out the window."

Biggest bullcrap ever. Those cops whooped him. And, frankly, he deserved it.

 

Vigilante cops scare me more than almost anything else.
And there were three votes, in Georgia, against the death penalty in this case?
I wish I'd followed the trial more closely.

 

It's Atlanta. Atlanta's not part of Georgia. [/any Georgian from south of Macon]

 

The judge sending him to state prison prevents him from having to go to ADX Florence. Prior to trial, he offered to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence. Another example of what a fiscal joke the death penalty in this country is.