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Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 09:48:49 AM EST
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Update: How he was caught:

During the night, Nichols approached a woman as she was entering her suburban Atlanta apartment and introduced himself as a wanted man, authorities said. "It's my understanding that he had told her, 'If you do what I say, I won't kill you,"' Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan said.

The woman either escaped or was allowed to leave and called 911. A SWAT team gathered outside and Nichols turned himself in after watching the manhunt on television, Gwinnett County Police Chief Charles Walters said.

"He literally waved a white flag or a T-shirt and came out to our folks," Walters said.

Original Post:

Atlanta's nightmare is over. Rape and murder suspect Brian Nichols has been captured.

Unfortunately, he may have left another victim, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who was found dead in his townhome. The agent's pickup truck, gun and badge had been stolen.

Nichols had a female hostage at the time he was surrounded at a Deluth apartment complex. Police said he "turned himself in without incident."

More news of the arrest here and here. Nichols may now face federal as well as state charges due to the death of the federal agent. Both jurisdictions allow for the death penalty. Reporter Brian Okreint's article about his mugging and carjacking by Nichols yesterday is here. His missing Honda turned up last night in the same garage from which it had been stolen, just down a few levels. So police were searching for the wrong car all day. They haven't provided an explanation of why they missed it in their sweeeps of the garage.

< No Bail for NY Cops Charged With Mafia Hits | DNA Frees Inmate, Imprisoned Since Age 16 >

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    Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia | 52 comments (52 topical)
    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 10:49:24 AM EST
    Should he have been wearing restraints? What would YOU have done to insure this had NOT happened?

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 11:49:51 AM EST
    Lets have an ol' fashion lynchin.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#3)
    by Kitt on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 11:54:56 AM EST
    For you.....

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 11:55:43 AM EST
    This won't be popular but I'm a defense attorney outside of Atlanta and the majority of us are in agreement that Nichols does deserve and will no doubt be sentenced to death. There are a bunch of us here (yeah,, defense attorneys) that are going to publicly support and encourage the death penalty for this defendant. If this case doesn't deserve the DP, what does????

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#5)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 11:56:38 AM EST
    We need a constitutional amendment to ban....SOMETHING.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#6)
    by Kitt on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 12:22:32 PM EST
    I watched Bill Maher last night and he was blathering about this taking precedent on the cable news channels. He thought there were more important to discuss. I think he missed the point. I think this is SO about lack of respect for the law and that which is tangible about the law - the court. That lack of respect has overwhelming been promoted by this particular administration, and to a lesser degree with business 'leaders' as well (Bernie "I didnd no nuthin" Ebbers) who are not punished for lying but are able to hire attorneys to debate semantics. A commentor at Americablog mentioned two things: 1)'our addiction to violence' in this country which I believe certainly attributes to laying the groundwork for that lack of respect of the law. Being a product of the '60's & '70's, I have no love for the police (as a group) and less so when given what's been happening as a result of the 9/11 hysteria. However, I do hold a healthy respect for what they do; it's not something I would do or have ever wanted to do. 2) The 'trickle down effect' of violence - from those in the top posts of this administration to those who carry out their policies to those of us out in society - it stems from the truck & branches out like a tree so it touches everyone.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 01:06:38 PM EST
    Hanna, please, you do not speak for all defense attorneys, or I believe, most of them. Most of us oppose the death penalty period. TalkLeft unequivocally opposes the death penalty for Mr. Nichols and for anyone. Many former prosecutors call them defense attorneys but are not defense attorneys in their heart, only in their wallets. Not all of them, of course, some see the light. But not enough. I have no idea if Hanna is a former prosecutor, but I wouldn't be surprised. Who is the death penalty for if not for Mr. Nichols? It's for no one. It should be abolished. Period.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#8)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 01:12:13 PM EST
    Kitt. Have you graphed the incidence of violent crime and tried to match it with the party in the White House? Go ahead.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#9)
    by Kitt on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 01:19:59 PM EST
    Richard - If you don't know or can't grasp an analogy with its connections, I'm not explaining it to you. I don't think it's obstensibly 'the party in the White House' but those occupying the WH and their actions and words. Their actions coupled with those of, oh, I don't know Tom Delay and countless others, demonstrate widespread disrespect for the law - usually under the guise of "values" or "morals" - which just goes to demonstrate their lack of both.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#10)
    by Ray Radlein on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 01:25:00 PM EST
    The local news is reporting that he also killed the Customs Department's #2 man in Atlanta before going to that woman's apartment, which means that the Feds are certainly going to take a continued interest in this case.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 01:37:28 PM EST
    Feds are going first and it WILL be the death penalty. The city of Atlanta wants it, the state of Georgia wants and the Federal Government wants it for the calculated muder of it's ICE agent. They'll all get what they want. And this mudering scum deserves it!!

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#12)
    by Dadler on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 01:37:30 PM EST
    steel, how about guards big enough not to be overpowered one man, or requiring more than one guard.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 01:39:12 PM EST
    I never said I was speaking for all defense attornies. just about 60 of us in Atlanta. And yes i was a prosecutor in LA for 15 years. Shows huh??

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 01:49:05 PM EST
    That's ok, Hanna. Just so we all know. Also, your first comment said you are outside Atlanta, your second said you are in Atlanta. Your feeling is more understandable if you are in Atlanta, or at least in Georgia. Some defense attorneys in Oklahoma felt the say way after the OKC bombings. It shows why changes of venue are so important.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#15)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 02:21:27 PM EST
    Kitt. Analogies, metaphors, and parables are what you call it after you get caught lying like a rug. If we want to blow cosmic smoke about the causes of such stuff, I'd blame permissiveness, moral relativism, the autonomy of the self, the lack of discipline in child-rearing--which leads to shock when the kid hits eighteen and the rules change, and the idea that the government is the enemy even absent evidence. Now we're even on the analogy thing. The Lefkow killer was his own kind of nutcase. Nichols was desperate and suffered, I'd bet, from diminished impulse control. A guy in our area managed to escape a deputy, went to another state and killed a couple of people in a liquor store holdup. His thing was he just liked to do that stuff. We are approaching three hundred million people in this country and there is an increasing probability that we will have at least one of every conceivable nutcase type. Forget analogies meant to beat up on conservatives. Try statistics.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 02:24:18 PM EST
    Talkleft, Will you as a defense attorney be joining other attorney's in advocating on behalf of this man? What is a suitable sentence for a rapist and multiple murderer if not the death penalty? Should society itself be sentenced to supporting this violent felon for the rest of his life? Or are we to believe that even this offender can be reformed if we just treat him nicely enough? Seriously, what would YOU and "most" defense attorneys prefer to see happen in this case?

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#17)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 02:32:19 PM EST
    Justpaul. You'll not be surprised to discover the guy didn't do it and is the victim of a racist, classist justice system.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#18)
    by Kitt on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 02:54:42 PM EST
    "Kitt. Analogies, metaphors, and parables are what you call it after you get caught lying like a rug." Oh, what bulls*t.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 03:17:46 PM EST
    Yes, I'll be advocating to save his life on this website and on cable news. As to cost, a death penalty prosecution costs far more than keeping him in jail for life.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 03:24:25 PM EST
    Talkleft, Thank you for the clarification. I respect your positon, even if I believe you are truly wrong on this one. This guy deserves to die. Coddling him is what got us to where we are now.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#23)
    by Kitt on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 06:55:48 PM EST
    Jimcee....Geezus! How nice of you to remember my posts, which is more than I can say. This is a story on local company that makes a holster that some on our city's and county's police forces are using.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 07:10:59 PM EST
    Kitt, C'mon you goof you really can't be serious that Bushco is to blame for this pyscho's terror rampage. Oh, wait I've read your posts here before and somehow I really believe you do. Nevermind. The thing I find hard to believe is that the head of law enforcement in Atlanta inferred that this was the best conclusion to this episode. Let's see, four dead one critically wounded and a city terrorized by someone that these same authorities already had in custody and this is the best conclusion? I think it is time for this joker to resign. I can understand why defence lawyers would prefer that their clients aren't shackled in front of a jury but considering that this guy was caught smuggling knives into court the day before makes that issue moot. There has been a serious breach of public trust in this case and many people should be held to account but somehow I get the feeling that it will be society's fault or rascism or his lack of opportunity (although he seemed to make the most of the one given him) or whatever but it is not Bush's fault, Kitt. There is enough local blame to go around and yes this guy should be dead as I write this. I can't believe the cops didn't just take him out when they had the chance and now we're all going to be treated to the talking head treatment of his case. I can't wait..... "but he was such a nice boy..."

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#24)
    by David on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 07:21:58 PM EST
    This whole episode would have been a lot less likely to have happened if the suspect was being guarded by a man. That's just a fact.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#25)
    by Peaches on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 07:38:45 PM EST
    This whole episode would have been a lot less likely to have happened if the suspect was being guarded by a man. That's just a fact. Provided the man also weighed more than 150 lbs and was not 51 years old. Some other facts, This whole episode would have been a lot less likely to have happened if: 1.) the sheriff's deputy was not armed 2.) there were more than one officer guarding the defendant. 3.) The defendant was kept handcuffed WE can probably think of a whole lot more facts.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 07:43:54 PM EST
    And if the one guard accompanying him was not 5'2" to his 6"1".

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#27)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 07:58:40 PM EST
    TL. You are letting down the side. When in matters relating to the military, the fire department, and cops, the feminists insisted that, 1, they would insist on the same standards and when that meant not enough women, 2, they insisted the same standards of strength were both meaningless and needlessly discriminatory. Gloria Steinem once said that the requirement for peak and upper body strength which kept women out of the fire department was stupid. Women, who couldn't carry people, could drag them, and the air was better on the floor, where the dragee's head would be bumping while being dragged by a female fire fighter. You have to keep your positions straight. If your last post is to be taken seriously, then NOW would read you out of the sisterhood. Pick one position and stick to it. This going back and forth by common sense is not at all leftish. Figure it this way. If a certain number of deputy positions have to be filled by people with the potential to stand up to somebody like Nichols, then we don't see many women hired. Now what?

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#28)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Mar 12, 2005 at 08:06:29 PM EST
    Easy, Richard. There should have been two of them...or more. Did you miss the "one guard" in my answer?

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#29)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 12:38:20 AM EST
    Third world with third world mass murder, bush must love it and bin laden is may happy. "Hey we have a guy down here in san diego that killed 15 people and he may get 5 years in prison", I say Free Brian! its a setup. I Love it so much.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#30)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 06:32:46 AM EST
    I am a bit bigger than Nichols. It would take more than two women to make me spill my coffee. Keep this in mind. In a situation like this, however many guards you have, you have one less. The defendant has the first move. Half a second to put the first guard out of action and before the others can react. Quite simply, and unavoidably deferring to unsophisticated physics, brute physics, it's tougher to suckerpunch a man into inaction. More bone mass, more muscle mass, less effect of whatever move you try to make. Now, if we have to double or triple the number of guards in case they're women, several obvious ramifications follow, which are not part of this discussion--but don't need to be since they're so obvious.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#31)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 06:42:24 AM EST
    Peaches - Don't faint, but you are right. Handcuffs and shackles would have prevented this. I hope the Court Reporter's family lays a wrongful death suit on who ever was in charge of security. I mean, two days before he was caught with two homemade blades in his shoe. Stupid is as stupid does.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#32)
    by pigwiggle on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 06:56:25 AM EST
    Not to turn this into a thread about capital punishment; but just one thing as I rarely have the opportunity. It seems to me objectors fall into roughly three broad (and often mixed) schools; opposed under any circumstance (TL for example), the ‘it doesn’t deter crime’ folks, and the ‘not one innocent man’ folks. I sympathize fully with latter; the notion of the state enforcing the ultimate punishment for an innocent person is repugnant. However the two former are counter to my sense of justice. Is the justice system about regulating crime or is it about exacting justice? And opposed under any circumstances; certainly morals are relative, but I feel justice is done when the doer is made to give up what was taken with a bit extra for punishment, including their life.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#33)
    by John Mann on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 09:27:02 AM EST
    People are pretty excited about this guy, and he'll likely have a real fast trial, sentence and execution. This would also be a good case for getting going on public executions - perhaps not on cable, but pay-per-view. There are huge amounts of money to be made on such events. Think of it! People can watch executions from the comfort of their own family rooms and avoid the stigma of being part of a slavering mob in the town square.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#34)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 09:28:45 AM EST
    Pigwiggle, you say "exacting justice" but I think you mean exacting or extracting "retribution" and the answer is no. The criminal justice system is not designed to mete out retribution or revenge. Sentences are imposed for rehabilitation, punishment and deterrence.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#35)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 02:37:26 PM EST
    TL. Is that your idea, or is it written down someplace important?

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#36)
    by pigwiggle on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 02:40:35 PM EST
    TL- ‘Pigwiggle, you say "exacting justice" but I think you mean exacting or extracting "retribution"’ I do. ‘The criminal justice system is not designed to mete out retribution or revenge.’ Well, I suppose some victims might view it as such. However, I suspect nearly all victims would say they are filing charges against their perp to try and make them pay for what they did, not to serve as an example or to rehabilitate them. Revenge is a fundamental human desire; one I don’t think is at all bad. We need justice to meter out this retribution in an impartial manner, not to neuter the base need for revenge. I’m certainly not a lawyer, so correct me if I am mistaken, but isn’t the purpose of punitive damages really retribution? If punitive damages were simply a punishment it wouldn’t matter who was awarded the money. Even thought the plaintiff has been made whole they are given a bit extra; literally as payback.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#37)
    by pigwiggle on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 02:42:45 PM EST
    TL- Sorry, I used a civil example, not criminal. However, I think the argument stand up to the ‘I’m certainly no lawyer’ bit.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#38)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 07:37:50 PM EST
    et al - As I have posted in the past, I waver on capital punishment. Where I would give Scott Peterson LWOP, in this case there is no doubt. John Mann - And yes, capital punishment should be done at high noon in full view. If we believe a person should have their life taken by the state, then we should be brave enough to watch the very ugly process of someone dying. I think we would find it to be a self limiting process. TL - Isn't one of the attributes of a civilized society the substitution of the state for family and clan in matters such as this?

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#39)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Mar 13, 2005 at 10:32:00 PM EST
    RA, see 18 USC Section 3553, directing judges to consider:
    2) the need for the sentence imposed-- (A) to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law, and to provide just punishment for the offense; (B) to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct; (C) to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant; and (D) to provide the defendant with needed educational or vocational training, medical care, or other correctional treatment in the most effective manner;
    Nothing in there about revenge or retribution, in the sense of a payback. One other cite: In re Estrada, 63 Cal. 2d 740, 745 (Cal., 1965)
    the best modern theories concerning the functions of punishment in criminal law: According to these theories, the punishment or treatment of criminal offenders is directed toward one or more of three ends: (1) to discourage and act as a deterrent upon future criminal activity, (2) to confine the offender so that he may not harm society and (3) to correct and rehabilitate the offender. There is no place in the scheme for punishment for its own sake, the product simply of vengeance or retribution. (See Michael & Wechsler on Criminal Law and its Administration [1940], pp. 6-11; Note, 55 Col.L.Rev., pp. 1039, 1052.)


    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#40)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 14, 2005 at 01:14:57 AM EST
    I was appalled by the lack of public speaking skills of Atlanta's high ranking law enforcement officials during the Nichols capture press conference. One official characterized the ending as a "pleasant" one and another who is already playing the blame game by emphasizing his "two month" tenure at least twice in an effort to avoid criticism about the flawed court security system. Stay tuned for the "insanity" plea due to re-trial events that caused Mr. Nichols to snap.....also not a supporter of the death penalty.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#41)
    by Kitt on Mon Mar 14, 2005 at 09:09:53 AM EST
    This is just a question 'cuz I'm curious. Jeralyn - You cite this: A) to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law, and to provide just punishment for the offense;.... Nothing in there about revenge or retribution, in the sense of a payback." Do you think that phrase is about retribution? Retribution is defined as "something justly deserved; recompense;" and, of course recompense is nothing more than compensation to the victims or those harmed. {Dictionary.com} I think some see retribution as part-and-parcel of revenge with highly negative connatations; retribution may not {necessarily} always be negative.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#42)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 14, 2005 at 10:58:30 AM EST
    Hey ol fashion lynchin! Why are you hiding behind that sheet. What's your name?

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#43)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 14, 2005 at 05:49:39 PM EST
    Its amazing to see how most everyone here has taken in everything they've heard in the media and now assumes they know exactly what happened. He may be a murderer, but none of you will ever know for certain (unless you happen to be an eyewitness). One thing I'm certain of: I'm wasting my breath talking to the "guilty until proven innocent" crowd. If our prosecutors are truly as jaded as the above exchange would indicate...

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#44)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 15, 2005 at 07:30:23 PM EST
    I doubt if this man really committed the crime of rape. He must have been compelled by the forces of evil represented in an UNJUST CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM networking to deny him justice. The resultant fustration and stress he experienced is this manifest saga we are all witnessing. Unfortunate though this may be, it is a clear indication that racism, prejudice and discrimination of any kind can not be tolerated in a modern, democratic, judicial system.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#45)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 15, 2005 at 10:20:57 PM EST
    It amazes me that BTK and the guy that killed all those people in the church get less media attention then Brian Nichols.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#46)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Mar 15, 2005 at 11:53:28 PM EST
    To Harriet: Are you suggesting that Nichols actions can be better understood as an act of rebellion against state justice, rather than as the cold blooded act of a viscious monster ? What is striking is that as you read between the lines of what Nichols hostage, Ashley Smith, says in her description of her encounter with Nichols, you pick up on an eerily similar sentiment. And at the same time, there is a palpable sense of an overwhelmingly transcenedant event taking place between them. That all of Nichols anger and all of Smiths fear dissolves, that it is as if the two pass out of the plane of temporal realities into a realm in which they identify with each other in some profoundly spiritual way, one in which there occurrs a kind of merging of souls. It is all quite baffling. And if as you suggest, Nichols was innocent of the rape charges, then the ironic results rendered by state justice is a crime commited by a defendant whose final hours at large almost constitute a type of spiritual absolution, while at the same time completely effacing the conventional profile of the murderer. This is a baffling case, utterly horrifying yet miraculously sublime, a case in which the more justice tries to seize it and make it intelligilbe, the more it flees from its grasp.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#47)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 12:00:20 AM EST
    First, I'd like to say somthing about the death penalty and or justice system. I oppose the death penalty. Not just because I belive it to be just another lynch mob to aid in desensitizing death, killing etc., but, because I belive that killing people(and in most cases besides the need to eat meat, if ever a need, the killing of animals). What Brian Nichols had done was obviously horrible, but killing him would not bring the people he killed back. On the surface, you may be conditioned to believe that the death penalty brings closure, or a sense of justice to victims of horrible crimes. It only implants one last seed of larsony into a community, that killing is alright, especially if you have connections in high places. Most lawyers supporting the death penalty are conditioned for years to pledge allegence to a system they know fails Americans every day, but the money and perks are good, so they keep on smoochin'(atta-boy). I mean not to twist a thorn into the side of anyone else's beliefs. But, what about the words "Correctional Facility" and "rehabilitation". Could a lawyer honestly say that Americans in any state, are getting their money's worth? If a lawyer was to go to prison today for freaking out(Due to many hard working hours, lack of decent sex, whatever) and pushing a fellow college out of a window, would he/she feel like they will be rehabilitated and someday, even ready to re-enter society? It is more than likely, that a violent person would enter prison and be coddled with more violence, then if they get an appeal, they can re-enter society and be a time-bomb ready to explode. The effort to rehabilitate people isn't there. Murder is not an act of a well-rounded, or even sane thinking person. So, where are the efforts to rehabilitate people? Most people(even lawyers) think like the OK Corale(..."fair trail before you are hung...Yehoo"). People would rather spend more money to kill someone "legally", than to rehabilitate them. Mabe it is "our" own thoughts of revenge for what others do for us, that makes "us" support the death penalty. In my opion, the death penalty, rallying support for it, media support for it, all of it is awfully shallow. More shallow than the muderer who kills innocent people, because they coop up thier victims and tell them(some times many years in advance) that they are gonna get lynched if the "Rehabilitation" don't "lynch" em first.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#48)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 08:08:38 AM EST
    The compententcy of the crimminal justice system in America is the subject that is in dire need of trial. Mr Nichols was being forced by issues that have plagued this corrupted system for decades, even centuries. Tolerance of such action that are orchestrated and preserved by this system will undoubtebly be revolted against time and time again throughout and beyound the years to come. They say in the "black community" that the systenm is designed to lead us astray. The preserverance to continue an injustice on a man who himself theorized this exact ideology is the end resut of what happen this past weekend. Mr Nichols was not the culprit of the crimes commited this weekend. He was an assesory to the crimes and only that. The purveyors of the crimes were introduced to Mr Nichols the day he was born black in America.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#49)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 09:15:10 AM EST
    In no way do I approved of what Brian Nichols did--but I will say--you got to be kidding me that he was gonna get life for his initial crime--i.e the trial, the initial arrest. I think he just snapped at that -- I could see 16 years but life--I think he just snapped. Those of you who read this--have to first walk in the shoes of an African American before you can judge--what he did was wrong the murders and he deserve jail for that. But let me tell you this had he been anything besides a black man and the first jury came back hung 8-4 in his favor he would have walked. The criminal justice systems has a lot of house cleaning to do

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#50)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Mar 16, 2005 at 09:29:54 PM EST
    Okay, I'm just putting this comment because I just wanted to put my opinion. I don't think that he should be sentenced to death because what all I've heard and read is that Brian has never acted this way before, he has always been the good kid growing up. Something obviously snapped and I know he did stupid things, but I think people that have 'mental' problems don't deserve to die, maybe be in jail the rest of their lives for killing but not killed.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#51)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 18, 2005 at 04:20:43 PM EST
    I am almost certain that Brian Nichols does not deserve the dealth penalty,and nor do I think his execution should be carriee out before any of the other's that are already on death row.

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#52)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Mar 21, 2005 at 06:12:49 AM EST
    I am one of many people that believe that Brian Nichols should not get the death penalty. Yes i know he should get punished for the crimes that he has commited but given him the death penalty will just bring more hurt to more lives and we don't need that!!!

    Re: Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia (none / 0) (#53)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 24, 2005 at 06:24:28 AM EST
    to hanna Helping encourage the death penalty and making sure brian nichols get it is just down right stupid come on get a clue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Atlanta's Brian Nichols Captured in Georgia | 52 comments (52 topical)