Atlanta trial set to begin

ATLANTA --- The case against Brian Nichols was supposed to be as open-and-shut as they come.

There were hordes of witnesses, hours of surveillance video and his lengthy statement to investigators after his arrest, when police say he confessed to a ferocious rampage that left four people dead.

Even Mr. Nichols' defense team has conceded Mr. Nichols killed a judge, court reporter, sheriff's deputy and federal agent on March 11, 2005, in a spree that began at the county courthouse in downtown Atlanta. He has pleaded not guilty, but his attorneys plan to argue he was the victim of a "delusional compulsion" during the killings.

With the murder trial to resume Thursday, more than three years after the killings, frustrated prosecutors are trying to keep the death penalty case on track as defense lawyers engage in maneuvers to whittle down the prosecution's mountain of evidence.

Both sides must contend with a case that has wound through more twists than an airport thriller: A taxpayer-funded defense of at least $1.8 million, outraged lawmakers, an alleged escape plot, allegations that a prosecutor committed crimes of her own and the district attorney suing the presiding judge, who later stepped down.

The developments have alternately astonished and outraged a community trying to close the books on the shootings that stunned Atlanta, traumatized its legal community and turned Fulton County's seat of justice into a crime scene.

"The defense team has to have the resources to deal with the scope of the charges, and that's created a time problem and a money problem," said Anne S. Emanuel, a Georgia State University law professor. "But obviously it's extraordinarily frustrating to everyone looking at it because guilt is simply not an issue: He's the person that killed the victims."

Mr. Nichols was being escorted to a courtroom in the Fulton County Courthouse when he allegedly beat a deputy guarding him, stole her gun and went on a shooting spree.

He is accused of murdering four people: Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, Sheriff's Deputy Hoyt Teasley and federal agent David Wilhelm. Mr. Nichols surrendered the next day after allegedly taking a woman hostage in her suburban Atlanta home.

Jury selection opened in January 2007, but soon was delayed by funding problems.

Judge Hilton Fuller suspended the trial indefinitely in October 2007 because the state public defender's office cut off funding to Mr. Nichols' attorneys amid a budget crunch. District Attorney Paul Howard sued Judge Fuller, saying the delays were creating "an emergency situation," and called for the Georgia Supreme Court to intervene.

State lawmakers approved new measures this year to ban senior judges, like Judge Fuller -- who do not face re-election -- from hearing death penalty cases. They also tightened the public defender system's budget.

Then the trial lost its leader: Judge Fuller was forced to step down in January after he was quoted in The New Yorker magazine as saying of Mr. Nichols, "everyone in the world knows he did it."

New judge James Bodiford has sought to keep the case on track. He has had to handle defense attorneys' attempts to challenge the credibility of a former prosecutor, Gayle Abramson, who tried Mr. Nichols for rape.

They claim Ms. Abramson was involved in criminal activity while she was prosecuting Mr. Nichols, and are questioning the integrity of the underlying rape prosecution. Ms. Abramson has called the allegation "inaccurate."

Once trial begins, it's likely to last months. As many as 600 witnesses could be called. Written evidence runs to the thousands of pages.