Prosecutor: Nichols signed escape plot letters in own blood

<p>The rape defendant accused of killing a judge and three others in a shooting rampage that started at a courthouse signed letters in his own blood that detailed his plot with another inmate to escape from the county jail, prosecutors said Tuesday.</p><p>The disclosure was made in a court filing in which prosecutors asked that a defense request to block the other inmate's testimony be denied.</p><p>The prosecutors said there is no evidence that Steven Marshall is not telling the truth about his conversations with accused gunman Brian Nichols.</p><p>"Nor is it conceivable that Marshall devised a plot to entrap defendant into writing letters detailing his proposed escape, gathering items such as a contraband cell phone to assist in the scheme, and signing the letters in his own blood," the prosecutors wrote.</p><p>The filing did not elaborate on the contents of the letters.</p><p>Prosecutors have alleged that Nichols plotted an escape with other inmates, including Marshall, at the jail where he has been held since the March 11, 2005, shootings at the Fulton County Courthouse. There's been no indication thus far that an escape attempt actually occurred.</p><p>In a motion seeking to block Marshall's testimony against Nichols, defense lawyers said Marshall, who has a lengthy criminal record that includes charges of armed robbery and murder, is an unreliable witness. They also suggested that prosecutors placed Marshall in the cell next to Nichols to get Nichols to further incriminate himself.</p><p>But prosecutors said in their response Tuesday there is no truth to that.</p><p>"It was defendant's choice to involve Marshall in this case, not any action of the state," prosecutors said. "Further, it was Marshall who brought defendant's admissions to the attention of law enforcement, through his attorney and various family members."</p><p>A hearing is scheduled for next week on several defense motions.</p><p>Nichols is accused of grabbing a deputy's gun at the courthouse, where he was being tried on rape charges, and killing a judge, court reporter and a sheriff's deputy. He's also accused of killing a federal agent he encountered at a home a few miles from the courthouse that night.</p><p>Police said Nichols also took a woman hostage in her suburban Atlanta apartment but surrendered the next day.</p><p>Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. His trial on the murder charges is scheduled to begin Jan. 11.</p>