ATLANTA - Twice in the last week Fulton County deputies seized weapons from people attempting to attend the trial of courthouse gunman Brian Nichols, confiscating a razor and a handgun from two people who tried to enter the courtroom.

Security officials took the razor from a man trying to enter the security checkpoint on the sixth floor of the Atlanta Municipal Courthouse on Nov. 13, county officials said. They confiscated a gun on Tuesday from a woman entering the trial security area.

The identities of the weapon holders were not released by authorities but a person with direct knowledge of the incidents said the woman was Candee Wilhelm, the widow of Nichols' victim David Wilhelm, who was shot and killed by Nichols outside a home he was renovating. The man was the defendant's brother, Mark Nichols.

The person did not wish to be identified because of the sensitive nature of security issues with the case.

Wilhelm and Mark Nichols, who both could not immediately be reached for comment, told investigators the security lapses were an accident. Nichols' mother referred comments to an attorney, Torris Butterfield, who did not immediately return phone calls.

The gun seizure forced officers to empty the courtroom Tuesday morning and use security dogs to sweep most of the sixth floor of the courthouse. A court spokesman said it was a "security issue" but did not elaborate at the time. Reports of the incidents have been forwarded to District Attorney Paul Howard, who will decide if charges should be filed.

Nichols was found guilty Nov. 7 of murdering a judge, a court reporter, a sheriff's deputy and a federal agent when he escaped from a 2005 rape trial. The jury is now hearing testimony about whether Nichols should be sentenced to death.

Security has been tight throughout the trial, which is being held a few blocks from the scene of the shootings.

Police have cordoned off the streets outside the buildings and visitors are screened through two checkpoints - one at the building's entrance and another at a metal detector near the entrance to the courtroom.

Security officers in tan flak jackets roam the building's hallways and a security dog often sits near a metal detector as visitors are screened at the second checkpoint.

The trial is being held amid unusually high security because of the nature of Nichols' crimes and because prosecutors say he has continued to plot another escape from custody.

Authorities say Nichols attempted to enlist his pen-pal girlfriend, a paralegal, and at least two sheriff's deputies in a scheme to break out of the Fulton County Jail. And guards this summer found paperclips under loose, jagged tiles in Nichols' cell that could be used to unlock handcuffs, prosecutors said.

Nichols was being escorted to a downtown Atlanta courtroom where he was being tried for rape on March 11, 2005, when he beat a deputy guarding him, stole her gun and went on the shooting spree. He killed Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau and Deputy Hoyt Teasley in a 12-minute span and then fled to the busy street outside the courthouse.

He escaped the city in a stolen car and managed to evade hundreds of police officers searching for him through the night. He headed for Atlanta's posh Buckhead neighborhood, where he shot and killed David Wilhelm.

He was captured the next day after a woman he took hostage, Ashley Smith Robinson, alerted police. Smith Robinson soon was credited with bringing a peaceful ending to the rampage by, in her account, appealing to his religious beliefs and giving him illegal drugs from her hidden stash.