Dear Readers, We often see “death penalty” issues in the media.
In Georgia, we have a ready-made docudrama in the Brian Nichols case in Fulton County. Nichols is charged with shooting and killing Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, his court reporter, a deputy sheriff, and federal agent. His attorneys have offered to have him plead guilty and receive a sentence of life without the possibility of parole, but the District Attorney’s office is insisting on the death penalty.
Sometimes, the justice system takes on an almost surreal aura, as evidenced by the tangled progress of Nichols’ trial. It is such a mess that it is hard to see how Nichols will ever get a fair trial.
Everyone knows that Nichols killed four people in cold blood. Yet, our justice system requires that judges and juries remain completely impartial and blind to what it is self-evident to all of us; the accused are always entitled to a “fair and impartial” judge and jury.
Senior Judge Hilton M. Fuller, Jr., violated this legal precept when he proclaimed Nichols’ obvious guilt in a New Yorker interview; he stepped down from the case shortly thereafter.
Now, we have another problem. The latest judge assigned to the case, Superior Court Judge James G. Bodiford, may also be headed down the same path, after media reports recently surfaced that he had publicly talked about Judge Barnes being a friend and the incident being a “brutal murder,” shortly after the killings.
Meanwhile, 900 jurors wait to be interviewed for jury duty and we will find out if there are any Fulton County residents who have not already decided Nichols’ guilt – it is hard to imagine there is anyone in the entire State so isolated from media reports to remain impartial.
This case may go down as one of the most expensive trials in history. There are four separate crime scenes and over 400 State witnesses.
If a jury eventually orders Nichols executed, when all the resources and monies dedicated just to this case are totaled, including defense team bills, district attorney and law enforcement resources, and court personnel costs, the final total will probably come to somewhere between a staggering $50 million to $100 million dollars . . . just for this one case!
When I was a prosecutor, I understood that not every murder was a death penalty case. The death penalty was reserved for the particularly brutal psychopaths. Personally, I was involved in three cases where I considered recommending the death penalty be pursued.
In one case, the detective and I are still dedicated to ensuring the killer remains locked up, so there is not another innocent victim – we both firmly believe if this killer is released, she will kill again.
Yet, in none of these cases did I recommend the death penalty. In one of these cases, the victim’s family clearly did not want the death penalty. In the other cases, I carefully explained to the family the costs and the interminable wait for justice. They agreed that the death penalty should not be sought.
Had the families not simplified my decision, I’m not sure what I would have decided to do. Did I want to saddle the county with a multi-million dollar legal tab for a death penalty case? Is the death penalty an appropriate legal remedy? Where is the line drawn between the extraordinary “death” case and the lesser alternative?
These questions are among the most vexing a prosecutor can face . . . as we will see next week.
Local attorney Jim Rockefeller owns the Rockefeller Law Center and is a former Houston County Chief Assistant District Attorney, and a former Miami Prosecutor. E-mail confidential legal questions to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com. Visit www.rockefellerlawcenter.com for Frequently Asked Questions and Jim’s blog, The Rockefeller Report.
