Judge, 2 Others Slain At Courthouse

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JUDGE, 2 OTHERS SLAIN AT COURTHOUSE
Shooting Prompts Lockdown of Downtown Atlanta Buildings

POSTED: 9:29 am EST March 11, 2005
UPDATED: 12:37 pm EST March 11, 2005

ATLANTA – A Fulton County judge, a sheriff’s deputy and a court reporter were fatally wounded and another deputy shot Friday at the courthouse before the suspect fled from the scene and carjacked a motorist.

Suspect Sought in Courthouse Shooting

Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, a female court reporter and a sheriff’s deputy were pronounced dead after they were transported to Grady Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Police were conducting a massive search for the suspect, who fled in a vehicle described as a green Honda Accord. Authorities identified him as Brian Nichols, 33.
www.drudge.com
 
Yes and apparently this man brought a weapon into the court house previously. Further during the prior trial he “stared down” the jury and appeared to be threatening.

The sad thing is that the reason they allow very dangerous criminals into court without restraint is to prevent from prejudicing the jury. I admit when I went to observe a hearing on a child custody case, the fact that bio dad was wearing an orange jump suit, in leg and hand cuffs made him look WAAAAAAYYYY scary. So I understand the THEORY but I do wonder why they didn’t consider his previously threatening behavior to demand that he at least be restrained in some manner. How frightening that this man is still at large.

Pray for the families of the slain people and for the criminal’s mother. How would you feel to know your son did such a horrible thing?
Lisa N
 
The shooting was done with a baliff’s gun – which the killer grabbed.
 
We need to say an Our Father for everyone involved.I do not think he has been caught yet,and since he has done what he has done already,he is all the more dangerous,there could be more violence to come,we need to pray that no one else is hurt.God Bless
 
vern humphrey:
The shooting was done with a baliff’s gun – which the killer grabbed.
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Yes which begs the question once more, why was this very obviously dangerous man not given SOME form of restraint, additional guards, or monitoring? Also I am curious if some kind of holster would have made it more difficult to wrest the gun from the bailiff
Lisa N
 
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Annunciata:
What a scary thing…Did it happen anywhere near you?
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they just caught the guy about 10 miles from here…

Its a relief…
 
this is weird to me, everyone just stood around while the convict grabbed someones gun and ran away? was there only one guy with a gun?
 
I don’t understand how this could happen either-talk about lack of security-Whenever I went to court(jury duty) there were always cops around who had to be in court themselves for cases.
 
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Mycroft:
this is weird to me, everyone just stood around while the convict grabbed someones gun and ran away? was there only one guy with a gun?
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The perp is a 6’1" male who is a former football player. The guard was a much smaller female. They were alone and he overpowered her while he was changing from his prison jumpsuit to his civvies. That is about the dumbest exhibition of PC that I have ever heard. If it hadn’t caused 4 lives, it would be laughable. Now, we can only shake our heads in disgust at the level of stupidity exhibited in Atlanta.

It is absolutely insane to have a female guarding a much larger, more powerful male. So is the ludicrous policy of changing into civilian clothing because the jumpsuit worn when one is part of the penal system “may” prejudice a jury. This politically correct nonsense has now cost 4 lives. When will this idiocy stop? When will the public good prevail over the immature need to not hurt someone’s feelings? Didn’t the fact that he was on trial for aggravated assault, kidnapping and sodomy give anyone a hint that he might be dangerous? How about the shank hidden in his shoe on Wednesday? Wasn’t that a clue?

And now will we still give this person the priveledge of changing into civilian clothes as he enters the courtroom even though there are about a bizillion witnesses that SAW this guy as the shooter? How many more innocent court reporters, sheriffs deputies and judges will have to go down before we get real and start dealing with people appropriately?
 
Seems that they have a rule that the defendant is not to be restrained or appear in jail uniform so as not to negatively influence the jury. I haven’t heard if it is the ruling of this particular judge, the county or the state.
On a different note, and not trying ta take away from the tragedy of this situation, isn’t this the same judge that recently ordered a tubal ligation for a woman who had murdered her daughter and sentenced her to only probation?
On the subject of guns and holsters, there is a safety holster for revolvers with a hidden release mechanism. Everybody these days carries Glocks and, to my knowledge, no such safety holster is available for them.
 
Lisa N said:
Yes which begs the question once more, why was this very obviously dangerous man not given SOME form of restraint, additional guards, or monitoring? Also I am curious if some kind of holster would have made it more difficult to wrest the gun from the bailiff
Lisa N
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Got a better question, why do you have a system whereby the Bailiff has to wear a gun at all?

No guns = no shot judge. simple really.
 
On the other thread about this situation, another poster noted that in Texas (?), the defendant was escorted by two big officers carrying nightsticks while a third armed officer was seated a safe distance away. Sounds like that would work.
 
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Norwich:
Got a better question, why do you have a system whereby the Bailiff has to wear a gun at all?

No guns = no shot judge. simple really.
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The reason that we here across the pond allow our law enforcement officials carry firearms is because our country consists of about 250 million people (a bit bigger than England). Some of these folks aren’t very civilized when they don’t get their tea and crumpets at 4:00. They do bad things like hold women hostage for three days while repeatedly raping them. They also fashion homemade knives and secret them in their shoes like this nice gent did. If he had succeeded in bringing the knives into the courtroom, how would he have been subdued without the use of a firearm?

Another reason we allow our police officers to carry a weapon other than a night-stick is that we have an unusual aversion to watching our forced home entry rates skyrocket as they have in those other countries thathave banned guns completely. We prefer that people actually be discouraged from breaking and entering the homes of helpless individuals who can do nothing but stand by and watch as their valuables stolen. We also prefer our muggings to go down rather than up.

The right to bear arms is part of our Constitution.
 
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Lisa4Catholics:
We need to say an Our Father for everyone involved.I do not think he has been caught yet,and since he has done what he has done already,he is all the more dangerous,there could be more violence to come,we need to pray that no one else is hurt.God Bless
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I just viewed an interview with the woman who was held hostage before the alleged murderer gave himself up. It looks like everyone’s prayers really were with her.
 
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condan:
The reason that we here across the pond allow our law enforcement officials carry firearms is because our country consists of about 250 million people (a bit bigger than England). Some of these folks aren’t very civilized when they don’t get their tea and crumpets at 4:00. They do bad things like hold women hostage for three days while repeatedly raping them. They also fashion homemade knives and secret them in their shoes like this nice gent did. If he had succeeded in bringing the knives into the courtroom, how would he have been subdued without the use of a firearm?
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In a court room? Bit over the top one would have thought.

Concealing a knife in a shoe, or anywhere else come to that? Would have thought that searching the individual would have been the aqswer, or maybe just shooting them is easier?

Finally its seems that your statement *how would he have been subdued without the use of a firearm? *may be seen as a little ironic, from what I read he wasn’t, I have a feeling it was the other way round!!

Ho hum, live by the sword and all that!!!
 
Norwich said:
In a court room? Bit over the top one would have thought.

Concealing a knife in a shoe, or anywhere else come to that? Would have thought that searching the individual would have been the aqswer, or maybe just shooting them is easier?

Finally its seems that your statement *how would he have been subdued without the use of a firearm? *may be seen as a little ironic, from what I read he wasn’t, I have a feeling it was the other way round!!

Ho hum, live by the sword and all that!!!
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Shouldn’t it be live by the AXE and all that??
 
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geezerbob:
On the other thread about this situation, another poster noted that in Texas (?), the defendant was escorted by two big officers carrying nightsticks while a third armed officer was seated a safe distance away. Sounds like that would work.
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When we escort prisoners to court, we always have an officer in charge of the prisoner work unarmed. Yes, he might be overpowered, but not without attracting enough attention and buying plenty of time for help to arrive. Any armed officers are only around to be used as a last resort.
 
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