Cobb County's Bodiford to preside over Nichols case

ATLANTA - A judge from a suburban county has been appointed to preside over the murder trial of accused courthouse shooter Brian Nichols.

Fulton County Superior Court spokesman Don Plummer says Cobb County Superior Court Judge James Bodiford has been assigned by an administrative judge to oversee the Nichols case.

Bodiford previously presided over the first murder trial involving antifreeze killer Lynn Turner and the case involving Tri-State Crematory operator Ray Brent Marsh.

The administrative judge for the 6th Judicial District -- Superior Court Judge Quillian Baldwin -- filed the order naming Bodiford.

On the Nichols case, Bodiford replaces Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller, who stepped down from the case last week.

In his letter resigning from the case, Fuller cited a magazine article in which he was quoted as saying of Nichols, ``everyone in the world knows he did it.''

Fuller insisted he didn't recall making the comment about Nichols, who is accused of killing four people in a 2005 spree that began at the Fulton County Courthouse. But Fuller said the damage had been done.

Fuller, a retired DeKalb County judge, had been asked to take the Nichols case after all Fulton County judges recused themselves.

Nichols is charged with murder in the March 11th, 2005, deaths of four people: Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, Sheriff's Deputy Hoyt Teasley and later federal agent David Wilhelm.