ATLANTA — Prosecutors played a haunting audiotape of a 2005 courthouse shooting rampage that left four people dead as they launched their case against the gunman Monday, while his attorneys said he was so deluded he believed he was carrying out a rebellion.
Brian Nichols could face the death penalty for the shootings of a judge, court reporter and sheriff’s deputy at the Fulton County Courthouse and a federal agent later that day. Nichols, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His attorneys say he couldn’t tell right from wrong.
During opening statements in Nichols’ oft-delayed trial, Fulton County prosecutor Kellie Hill called him a “conniving, vicious, cold-blooded, remorseless, evil and extremely dangerous killer” who planned the attack and methodically sought out his targets.
“He’s not insane,” she said. “He had a plan. And we’re going to bring you proof of the plan.”
Prosecutors say Nichols was being escorted to a courtroom where he was being tried for rape March 11, 2005, when he beat a deputy guarding him, stole her gun and went on a shooting spree.
As Hill played a brief audio clip of a routine court hearing interrupted by gun shots and terrified screams, Nichols sat silently, his eyes downcast.
The defense team countered that Nichols was “swallowed whole” with a belief that he was a slave rebelling against authority. While others looked at the judge with respect, Nichols saw him as an enemy, said defense attorney Henderson Hill.
“What you will see is that these delusions were real for Mr. Nichols,” he said.
The trial, being held blocks from the scene of the downtown Atlanta shootings, could last months. It took nine weeks to select a jury of eight women and four men, and more than 600 witnesses could be called.
