Courthouse-Slaying Suspect Still at Large

[FUZO]

TweetCourthouse-Slaying Suspect Still at Large


ATLANTA - Hundreds of law officials searched through the night for a man suspected of killing a judge and two other people at a downtown courthouse, then stealing a reporter's car to escape. Brian Nichols, 33, remained at large early Saturday after apparently never even taking the green Honda Accord from the parking garage where he had carjacked it from. Someone working in the area saw the car and called police.





"He went from one level of the parking lot to another, apparently," Atlanta police spokesman John Quigley said early Saturday. "We don't know if any other cars are missing. I don't know if the person took public transportation or took another vehicle. There's lots of options."


Quigley said authorities were reviewing surveillance tapes "to see what leads we can develop from that." One of those tapes came from CNN security cameras in the parking garage where the carjacking took place.


The photos show a black man resembling Nichols donning a jacket that CNN said belonged to Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Don O'Briant.


Nichols beat O'Briant and demanded his car after fleeing the courthouse, where he fatally shot a judge, a court reporter and deputy sheriff with a gun he stole from another deputy sheriff. The deputy sheriff who had her gun stolen was escorting Nichols to his rape trial.


Throughout Friday, police said they were looking for the reporter's car, and highway message boards across the state issued descriptions of the vehicle. The report about the car being found came more than 13 hours after the slayings.


Authorities continued to ask for the public's help in finding Nichols early Saturday, and Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan said, "We do not know what type of vehicle he is in."


Nichols is armed and dangerous, said Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington.


The former computer technician was being escorted to his trial, in its fourth day, when the incident began Friday morning. Nichols was facing a retrial on charges of rape, sodomy, burglary, and false imprisonment, among others, after his earlier trial was declared a mistrial on Monday when jurors voted 8-4 for acquittal.


In the rape case, Nichols was accused of bursting into his ex-girlfriend's home, binding her with duct tape and sexually assaulting her over three days. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said Nichols brought a loaded machine gun into the home and a cooler with food in case he was hungry.


Nichols had been dating the woman for eight years, and she tried to break up with him after he got another woman pregnant, said Nichols' attorney, Barry Hazen. Though he is accused of imprisoning the woman and raping her, Hazen said his client claims she invited him over and they had consensual sex.


"My guts tell me he faced a greater chance of conviction in the second trial," Hazen said.


Nichols, who had been jailed since Aug. 23, faced a possible life sentence if convicted of rape, and prosecutor Gayle Abramson said she believes Nichols was certain he would be convicted and was willing to kill to avoid it.


The day before the incident, the judge and prosecutors in Nichols' case requested extra security after investigators found a shank — or homemade knife — in each of Nichols' shoes, Abramson said.


District Attorney Howard did not say what measures were taken to beef up security, but Assistant Police Chief Alan Dreher said no other officers assisted Hall with taking Nichols to court.


Hazen described his client as a "big, strong guy" with a laid-back personality.


"Even the larger deputies I don't think would be any match for Brian Nichols," Hazen said.





Police information suggests Nichols could have left the courthouse Friday morning after wounding deputy Cynthia Hall, who escorted him to court. Instead, he went into the courtroom and held about a dozen people hostage before killing court reporter Julie Brandau and Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, police said. Barnes had been a Fulton County judge since July 1998.

As Nichols left the courthouse, he was confronted by another Fulton County deputy, Sgt. Hoyt Teasely, who Nichols shot and killed, police said.

Chief Pennington said Friday night that Nichols attempted three or four carjackings after the shooting, one in which he took the reporter's Honda Accord. Early indications are that Nichols parked the car on another level of the same garage and escaped on foot.

Nichols' last known job was working as a computer technician for a logistics subsidiary of Atlanta-based shipping giant UPS Inc. Company spokesman Norm Black says Nichols joined the unit in March 2004 and left in September 2004, which was when he was arrested.

More than 100 state troopers and officers from several agencies, including the FBI (news - web sites), were assisting in the search, but there were few leads, police said.

A reward of $60,000 was being offered for information leading to Nichols' capture.

[BICEPBULG]

TweetThat is really sad... I hope they catch his ass soon... Thats not too far from me.

[Fit2bLarge]

Tweetbro, if they catch his ass, he's not making it back to the precint, garanteed!

[mick-G]

TweetThey caught him today

[BICEPBULG]

TweetI believe he made it back to the slammer!