Scott Peterson still gets the death penalty for murdering his wife (and his child).
Robert Blake is not guilty of murdering his wife.
Michael Schiavo is still trying to murder his wife--with the assistance of the state.
Michael Jackson trial for diddling boys is still going.
And what about that shooting rampage in Atlanta perpetrated by the previously-anonymous rape suspect Brian Nichols? Too wild to believe and--as details are slowly emerging--it seems as though it could have been prevented.
First there’s the short, fiftyish, over-weight female sheriff’s deputy—Cynthia Hall--that was supposed to be guarding the unshackled, uncuffed Nichols. At first, it was reported that the 6’1” 210-pound, twenty-years-younger Nichols overpowered her, took her weapon away and shot her.
This morning, however, I saw a report which told a slightly different story, one which casts the Fulton County Sheriff Department and Atlanta in an ugly light.
First of all, Nichols’ attack on Hall was captured by a surveillance camera, but no one was paying attention. Nichols didn’t take Hall’s weapon from her because she wasn’t carrying one. He *did* get the keys to the weapons locker from her prone body. Then, instead of escaping from the building, he ran down the hall, over a land bridge, to Judge Rowland Barnes’ (presiding over Nichols’ rape trial) courtroom and murders the judge and the court reporter, Julie Ann Brandau. Sheriff’s deputy Hoyt Teasly’s pursuit of Nichols also cost the former his life. (Nichols also probably murdered David Wilhelm, the assistant special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as Mr. Wilhelm was working on his new home.)
Additionally, Judge Barnes was reputed to have had a panic button at his bench. Allegedly, he had time to push it, but only got a response ten minutes later, i.e. ten minutes after he was dead.
No one manning the surveillance camera and no one responding to the judge’s panic button; as a result, four people are dead. If you can’t feel relatively safe around dozens (hundreds?) of law enforcement personnel, then something is rotten in that department.
I smell heads rolling and lawsuits.
It was almost a sick joke to see eight or nine beefy male deputies escorting the now-shackled Nichols into the courtroom to have his rape trial declared a mistrial. According to another report, the declaration was made because it was deemed that, because of the shooting rampage, he wouldn’t be able to get a fair trial for allegedly raping his girlfriend.
Hmm, ya think?
That Ashley Stuart—Nichols’ former hostage--was able to talk him down and into surrendering, was one of the most extraordinary occurences. It's almost as if she reminded him that he was human and not a monster. (Apparently, Hall and Stuart are the only two who survived contact with Nichols, though Hall was critically injured and doesn’t remember the attack.) Stuart deserves all of the reward not one-sixth of it, unless Fulton County authorities are going to take the rest of it and put it into deputy training.
What would I do if this were my brother? I’d buy him soap-on-a-rope and cigarettes for his long stay in prison. Then I’d cry and pray for his soul when his execution came around.
I don’t envy any of these families.
ASIDE: Another black child will grow up being ashamed of his father. Just great.
A girlfriend of courthouse killings suspect Brian Nichols gave birth to his child just three days before the rampage, and she said Nichols repeatedly told her that he wanted to be with the child.
