ATLANTA — A man who escaped from custody during his rape trial and launched a deadly courthouse shooting spree that killed a judge and three others was convicted of murder Friday more than three years after the rampage.
Brian Nichols, 36, could face the death penalty for killing a judge, a court reporter, a sheriff’s deputy and a federal agent in the violence that began at the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta.
Nichols had confessed to the killings but claimed he was legally insane and gripped by a delusional compulsion that he was a slave rebelling against authority. Jurors rejected that argument, finding him guilty of murder and dozens of other charges.
Nichols’ attorneys contended that their client is no criminal mastermind and that his murderous plan “only succeeded because a thousand things went wrong.”
