The murder trial against Brian Nichols is set to begin Thursday, more than three years after prosecutors say he confessed to a courthouse shooting rampage that left four people dead.
Even Nichols' defense team has conceded he 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, and his attorneys said Wednesday they plan to argue Nichols was insane and couldn't tell right from wrong during the killings.
But the trial has faced a series of complications that have alternately astonished and outraged a community trying to close the books on the shootings that stunned Atlanta and turned Fulton County's seat of justice into a crime scene.
Since Nichols' arrest after he allegedly held a woman hostage in her suburban Atlanta home, the trial against him has hit a series of bumps.
Lawmakers outraged at a state-funded defense bill of at least $1.8 million have threatened to cut more funding. Nichols has been accused of plotting an escape. Defense attorneys claim a prosecutor committed crimes of her own. And the district attorney sued the presiding judge, who later stepped down.
Prosecutors say Nichols was being escorted to a courtroom in the Fulton County Courthouse when he beat a deputy guarding him, stole her gun and went on a shooting spree.
He is accused of killing four people: Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, Sheriff's Deputy Hoyt Teasley and federal agent David Wilhelm. Nichols surrendered the day after the killings.
Jury selection began in January 2007 but was delayed soon after because of funding problems.
New judge James Bodiford has tried to keep the case on track. And once it begins, it's likely to last months. As many as 600 witnesses could be called, and written evidence runs to the thousands of pages.
But first, prosecutors and defense attorneys will begin the painstaking process of selecting 12 impartial jurors from a pool of hundreds of county residents. And finding a fair jury to decide one of the most notorious cases in modern Atlanta history could be the trickiest task.
The jury selection is going to be the most difficult part, said J. Tom Morgan, a former DeKalb County prosecutor. They all have to take an oath that they haven't prejudged the case, and that's going to be hard to say.
