Wednesday, March 12, 2008
News Brian Nichols, Georgia's death penalty crisis and the cost of justice
Posted by Scott Freeman on Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 8:10 PM
In researching this week's cover story, I was struck by how several independent forces came together to cause a financial crisis that has left Georgia with death penalty cases that are stalled all over the state.
A state legislator, who also happens to be an attorney, has an interesting theory no one else has brought up.
None of this would have happened -- no financial crisis, no stalled death penalty cases, no controversy in the Brian Nichols trial -- had the U.S. attorney taken the case. One of Nichols' alleged victims was a U.S. Customs agent.
Had that happened, the legislator says, Nichols would have been represented by a federal public defender. He would have been tried away from the emotionally charged atmosphere of the Fulton County Courthouse, and it would have saved everyone major headaches.
But is that a realistic possibility?
A death penalty expert I talked to says the case probably wouldn't fall under federal jurisdiction. They could possibly have prosecuted the death of the agent, but probably not the deaths inside the courthouse.
Any legal wizards out there who can address that point?
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