ATLANTA - The judge presiding over the murder trial of a man accused in a deadly 2005 shooting spree that began in a courtroom refused Monday to step down from the case.
Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller denied a prosecution request to disqualify him from the Brian Nichols case.
Fuller said in his order that he found District Attorney Paul Howard's motion to be "untimely" and "based upon bare conclusions and opinion, providing no sufficient basis for supporting the motion or warranting further proceedings."
In his motion Thursday, Howard argued that Fuller has violated ethics rules by indefinitely delaying Nichols' murder trial.
Howard said that Fuller effectively recused himself from the entire case when he recused himself from handling a previous defense motion to hold the state public defender's office in contempt for not funding Nichols' lawyers. Howard said the fact that the defense motion was later withdrawn should have no bearing.
The state Supreme Court rejected a previous petition filed by Howard that questioned whether Fuller should be removed but did not seek his removal outright. The high court said the petition should first be filed in Superior Court.
Howard had suggested in his disqualification motion Thursday that Fuller recuse himself from deciding the motion, but Fuller ruled anyway, stating there is no basis for the motion to be assigned to another judge. It wasn't immediately clear if Howard will appeal Fuller's ruling to the state Supreme Court. A message left Monday at Howard's office seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Fuller has suspended Nichols' murder trial indefinitely because the state public defender's office has cut off funding to Nichols' lawyers. The judge has expressed concern that if the trial were to go forward and Nichols were convicted, an appellate court would reverse the conviction because of ineffective counsel.
The Georgia Public Defender Standards Council has said Nichols' defense had cost the council $1.8 million by the end of June, when it cut off funding to Nichols' lawyers because it couldn't meet its obligations to lawyers for other indigent defendants in Georgia.
Nichols was being escorted to a courtroom in the Fulton County Courthouse for the continuation of his retrial on rape charges when he allegedly beat a deputy, stole her gun and went on the shooting spree on March 11, 2005.
He is accused of 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 that night. Nichols surrendered the next day after allegedly taking a woman hostage in her suburban Atlanta home.
Nichols, who faces a possible death penalty if convicted of murder, has pleaded not guilty.
Friday
July 4th, 2025
4:29PM
