Agent: Nichols said shootings sparked by girlfriend's infidelity

<p>Accused courthouse gunman Brian Nichols told authorities he lashed out because his girlfriend had a relationship with the couple's church pastor, an FBI agent testified Monday.</p><p>Agent Joseph Fonseca's testimony came during a hearing in which Nichols' lawyers were seeking to have the court throw out their client's statements to police following his arrest the day after the March 11, 2005, shootings.</p><p>They've argued that Nichols was denied counsel before he made incriminating statements about the shooting deaths of a judge, court reporter, sheriff's deputy and federal agent. But prosecutors have argued Nichols waived his right to counsel and spoke voluntarily.</p><p>There was no immediate ruling by Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller.</p><p>Fonseca testified that during a 20-minute ride with Nichols from the suburban Atlanta apartment where he was arrested to the FBI office in Atlanta, Nichols spoke mostly about sports and his love of college basketball. But at one point at the beginning of the ride, he told the agent he wanted to make a statement, Fonseca said.</p><p>"This whole thing started because my girlfriend slept with our pastor," Fonseca quoted Nichols as saying.</p><p>Fonseca did not immediately reveal during the hearing what else was said during the ride or when Nichols was questioned by other agents and Atlanta police detectives.</p><p>Another FBI agent, Jeffrey Holmes, testified that Nichols never asked for a lawyer before speaking to authorities.</p><p>Nichols was being retried on charges that he raped the off-and-on girlfriend when he allegedly grabbed a deputy's gun and went on the shooting spree. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. His murder trial has been scheduled for Oct. 3 in the same courthouse complex where the spree started.</p><p>Nichols testified during his first rape trial that he was dating two women, the alleged rape victim and another woman who gave birth to his son three days before the shooting spree.</p><p>The alleged rape victim testified during the first trial that Nichols was suicidal at times about her threats to end their seven-year relationship. She also said Nichols at one point attacked the minister from the couple's church, whom she had recently started dating.</p><p>A defense request to throw out the murder charges against Nichols also is among several motions that will be argued during a series of hearings this week.</p><p>The hearings that started Monday also will address defense motions to prevent local sheriff's deputies from acting as bailiffs at his trial, make prosecutors reveal certain evidence they might use and protect the defendant's right to counsel.</p><p>Also Monday, Nichols was given permission to use a prayer rug during breaks in court. His attorney, Gary Parker, told the judge that Nichols has converted to Islam while in jail and uses the rug to pray several times a day. The judge agreed to allow the rug's use, provided the attorney keeps possession of it.</p><p>Nichols, 34, is accused of killing the judge presiding over his rape retrial and the judge's court reporter. Police say Nichols later killed a sheriff's deputy who chased him outside the courthouse, and a federal agent who encountered him at a home a few miles away.</p><p>Nichols surrendered the next day after allegedly taking a woman hostage in her suburban Atlanta apartment.</p><p>A separate defense motion was filed recently requesting that the trial be moved to the court-martial room at Fort McPherson, an Army installation near Atlanta that is among those slated for closure by the military. It's not clear if that issue will be addressed in the upcoming hearings.</p>