<p>Lawyers for accused courthouse shooter Brian Nichols no longer want the state public defender office held in contempt for cutting off funding for their legal fees and expenses.</p><p>They said in court papers Wednesday that a contempt hearing that had been scheduled for Monday is no longer necessary because they now believe the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council truly can't afford to continue funding the defense.</p><p>"Defense counsel believe it unwise to proceed forward with a show cause hearing against a state agency that is so clearly overwhelmed by its extensive mandate in the face of its insufficient budget," the defense said in the filing.</p><p>The judge presiding over Nichols' murder trial has already suspended jury selection indefinitely because he believes Nichols' defense has not been adequately funded.</p><p>With the defense request to forego Monday's hearing, it remains unclear what happens next, or how the defense funding crisis will be resolved, further putting the case in limbo.</p><p>Nichols' lawyers could file a motion to dismiss the murder charges on speedy trial grounds if the funding issue persists too long without resolution, said Emmet Bondurant, an attorney not involved in the Nichols case who used to be chairman of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council.</p><p>"You can't hold somebody indefinitely on a charge of murder without giving them a trial and without providing them an adequate defense," Bondurant said.</p><p>One of Nichols' lawyers declined to comment Wednesday beyond the filing. A prosecution spokeswoman also declined to comment.</p><p>The state public defender office has said it can't continue to pay the costs for Nichols' defense and carry out its duty in roughly 80 other capital cases in the state.</p><p>The office has said that because of the amount of money already spent on Nichols' defense so far _ $1.8 million as of the end of June _ there isn't enough money for other cases. As a result, it cut off funding to Nichols' defense on July 1.</p><p>Bondurant said he doesn't believe the defense motion to hold the public defender office in contempt had merit because of the office's legitimate inability to provide more funding to the Nichols case.</p><p>"The essence of contempt is a willful and intentional violation of a court order," he said.</p><p>The Legislature has refused to step in, and recently House Speaker Glenn Richardson said he is creating a committee to review Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller's decisions in the Nichols case, particularly on defense funding issues.</p><p>Fuller had recused himself from handling Monday's contempt hearing, which was set to be heard by a judge from another county. The hearing will likely be canceled based on the defense request.</p><p>Nichols is charged with escaping from custody at a downtown Atlanta courthouse _ where he was on trial for rape on March 11, 2005 _ and killing the judge presiding over the rape trial, a court reporter chronicling the proceeding, a sheriff's deputy who chased him outside, and a federal agent he encountered later that night.</p><p>Nichols surrendered the next day. State prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty if Nichols is convicted of murder. Nichols' lawyers plan to ask the jury to find their client not guilty by reason of mental illness, arguing that he was suffering a "delusional compulsion" at the time of the killings.</p>
