Home > Jay Bookman > Archives > 2008 > December > 15 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USBrian Nichols and the death penalty
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fulton County DA Paul Howard knew years ago that insisting on the death penalty in the Brian Nichols case would be risky given the historic reluctance of Fulton jurors to impose death. He chose to go ahead anyway, investing millions of taxpaying dollars in effort to put Nichols on Death Row.
Now that the gamble has failed, with three of 12 jurors refusing to vote for death, Howard is complaining that he didn’t get a fair trial. That’s baloney. As an officer of the court, Howard has a duty to accept and respect the jury’s verdict, even if he disagrees with it. He knew, or should have known, that the odds were against him to begin with.
The Nichols sentence is also inspiring some in the state Legislature to try to lower the death standard from a unanimous jury vote to a 10-2 vote. That’s a very bad idea. According to the Innocence Project, more than 200 people have been exonerated after their conviction by DNA evidence in the last 20 years; 17 of those freed had served time on Death Row.
How many more innocent people are still on Death Row today who, because of the nature of the case against them, can’t be freed by DNA? Statistically speaking, they are almost certain to exist. And it is just as certain that innocent people have been wrongly executed.
Nichols’ guilt was never in question. But lowering the threshhold to execution from unanimous vote to super-majority vote raises the odds that society will kill innocent people. Is the greater risk of taking innocent life justified by a greater chance that killers such as Nichols will die?
I don’t see how you can make that rational argument.
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Comments
By Doggone/GA
December 15, 2008 3:59 PM | Link to this
Better that 100 guilty men go free than that 1 innocent man is put to death
By Mort Merkel
December 15, 2008 4:02 PM | Link to this
Since we know Nichols is guilty and should die, just pass a bill to execute him. The Legislature has passed bills aimed at one person before, i.e. Sonny’s tax break.
By AJC/DNC Management
December 15, 2008 4:02 PM | Link to this
Doesn’t it figure, the AJC trying to drum up sympathy for a cold blooded killer, probably the most death deserving low life in the entire country-
How many more innocent people are still on Death Row today who, because of the nature of the case against them, can’t be freed by DNA?
What has this got to do with anything?
Nichols friend blames himself ‘He has scars that run deep,’ childhood buddy says. ‘I know he’s remorseful.’ Juror says 3 refused to agree to death penalty from start.
Well, boo hoo hoo.
It’s simply disgusting to think that the Barnes, Brandauor or Teasley family could be subjected to such trash talk.
By AJC/DNC Management
December 15, 2008 4:05 PM | Link to this
Is the greater risk of taking innocent life justified by a greater chance that killers such as Nichols will die?
I don’t see how you can make that rational argument.
Innocent people do die when there is no consequence for killing them.
It’s a proven fact.
By RW-(the original)
December 15, 2008 4:17 PM | Link to this
Considering this was Paul Howard we should probably be relieved that he even got a conviction.
Jay B.,
Nice bait and switch to throw out the 200 released prisoners and sneak in that of those 200, 17 had “served time” on death row. The 200 number has nothing to do with your subject of the hour.
By Bosch
December 15, 2008 4:32 PM | Link to this
Brian Nichols should be drawn and quartered and then burned - outside the courthouse for the general viewing public.
In my opinion, of course.
By RB from Gwinnett
December 15, 2008 4:35 PM | Link to this
Jay, the prosecutor is correct that he did not get a fair trial. The 3 jurors LIED when asked if they could sentence someone to death. They knew going in they would never vote for death and they stood in front of the attorney’s and the judge and lied through their teeth. If the prosecutors had known that on day 1, they would have taken Nichols deal and spared the taxpayers the burden. If you want to talk about somebody wasting taxpayers money, why don’t you dig up the names of the 3 lying low lifes and put the blame where it belongs.
And while we’re at it, why don’t we charge these 3 with perjury?
Justice was not served in this case, Jay. Your liberal lens has some major cracks in it.
By david wayne osedach, san diego/ U.S.A.
December 15, 2008 4:36 PM | Link to this
The death penalty is legal. While it may not be a deterrent to murder and other equally heinous acts it does give closure to the victim and his or her family.
By GodHatesTrash
December 15, 2008 4:43 PM | Link to this
Innocent people do die when there is no consequence for killing them.
It’s a proven fact.
And some murderous scum get off with just somebody throwing a couple of shoes at them!
By professional skeptic
December 15, 2008 4:46 PM | Link to this
Some people are just bent on killing.
By GodHatesTrash
December 15, 2008 4:54 PM | Link to this
Actually, Duh, Mr. Nichols was obviously undeterred by Georgia’s death penalty statute.
He was facing a decade or two in jail for his rape retrial. So he assaulted a guard and killed a judge,a cop and a court reporter on his way out of the place. He told a cop he disarmed “I’ve got nothing to lose”.
He was looking to murder some folks and then do suicide-by-cop. He killed one more person before he changed his mind and surrendered.
By RB from Gwinnett
December 15, 2008 5:01 PM | Link to this
There’s some more of that wonderful “come together” speak from Trash. Who wouldn’t want to get all chummy and work together for the common good with people who call the sitting president “murderous scum”?
Trash is one of your teammates, Jay. Gotta be proud of that. Don’t you just wish you could publish those words yourself? Or maybe you are Trash and that’s how you get away with it? Or maybe you invite that kind of pathetic individual on your blog to say the thinks you want to say but can’t? I’ll bet your mama is so proud.
By Davo
December 15, 2008 5:02 PM | Link to this
“it does give closure to the victim and his or her family.”
I fail to see how. I saw a program on PBS which followed a death penalty case; the victims families and the murderer. The killer found God of course, which didn’t seem to matter to the survivors…who can blame them. The point that I remember is that after the state killed the POS, the anger from the families was not dissipated in the least. The idea that once you kill the criminal all the hate goes away is a myth. Vengence is a poor substitute for justice. In my mind only treason is an adequate arguement for the death penalty. Life in a box is probably the best our society can hope for if we are to remain civilized.
By WhoCares
December 15, 2008 5:05 PM | Link to this
Well if Nichols doesn’t deserve the death penalty why not just let him off scott free. Let that Scumbag walk and see how long he lives on the street.
By AJC/DNC Management
December 15, 2008 5:14 PM | Link to this
Oogedy Boogedy indeed-
Waiting for the rapture has its secular analog in a phenomenon you might term “dystopian dread”: a growing sense of imminent ecological collapse — the ecopocalypse, if you will. Particularly ascendant here in the lush green and relatively unchurched Pacific Northwest, the narrative offers a form of secular theology that resembles aspects of the Left Behind scenarios. Instead of God, nature unleashes its wrath on “sinful” humanity; instead of the savior’s second coming, ecotheology awaits a green utopia in which electric cars, locally grown organic food and post-consumer-culture sustainability rise in the ashes of disaster.
They worship the idiot god.
“You find that people working for a utopian future have tremendous fear about things turning out differently,” Proctor explains. “Utopias are often framed against a dystopian nightmare,” he adds, producing a kind of all-or-nothing fixation on perfection and its perfect opposite.-USAToday
Into your bunkers, green weenies.
We’ll let you know when it’s safe to come back out.
By ByteMe
December 15, 2008 5:18 PM | Link to this
RB: Are you sure they lied? From the article:
“Three of the people who expressed strong misgivings about imposing a death sentence were assigned to the Nichols’ jury.”
In other words, they expressed their misgivings about the death sentence, but Howard probably didn’t spend the challenge on them. His mistake.
Of course, had he not sought the death penalty, Georgia’s indigent defense budget wouldn’t have been sucked dry with one stinkin’ case. We all would have been better off just going after life in prison without parole for all the millions spent not getting the death sentence.
By AJC/DNC Management
December 15, 2008 5:28 PM | Link to this
{{{{In case anyone noticed, I’ve been hors de combat the last couple of days because the Karl Rove Weather Machine decided to target New Hampshire with a massive ice storm. No power, no Internet, no nuthin’, and temperatures below zero Fahrenheit. We huddled around one of my Democrat neighbors whose incandescent rage at Bush for not doing anything!!!!! kept us warm.-Steyn}}}}
By getalife
December 15, 2008 5:35 PM | Link to this
Nobody noticed except you Andy.
Man crush?
What happened to Mann Coulter?
By GOP is gone
December 15, 2008 5:50 PM | Link to this
I believe that some people give up their right to live when they commit heinous crimes. Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and Brian Nichols. Manson should have been gone a long time ago.
By GodHatesTrash
December 15, 2008 5:57 PM | Link to this
Get - still laughing. Thanks!
By Mr Snarky
December 15, 2008 6:22 PM | Link to this
GA Govt: Killing is wrong. In fact it’s so bad if you do it we’re going to kill you.
Am I the only one who see’s something wrong with this logic?
By getalife
December 15, 2008 6:30 PM | Link to this
I am sure our pro life friends want to kill him but the people have spoken.
Obama: My Administration Will Value “Science” And “Facts”.
Change.
By AJC/DNC Management
December 15, 2008 6:38 PM | Link to this
al-Gitmo: When he honors his first kkkampaign promise, be sure to get back with us.
Until then it is all just blow.
By getalife
December 15, 2008 6:51 PM | Link to this
This will cheer you up Andy
Hilarious.
By Bud Wiser
December 15, 2008 7:09 PM | Link to this
Nichols should die. The overwhelming numbers of witnesses plus all the other evidence leaves no doubt.
Another no-doubter: putting Nichols in the dirt where he belongs most assuredly guarantees that no other human being would ever die by his hand again.
Would he escape, I would pray that he return to Atlanta to dispose of the family members of the 3 death penalty holdouts. They might see things as people in the real world do at last.
Also, those 3 should be held accountable legally, if possible, for lying to the court when processed for the jury that they would actually consider the ultimate punishment, when in fact they had no intention of doing so.
Send a message to the ‘community’ that jury nullification won’t float in Atlanta.
By Chad Harris
December 15, 2008 7:17 PM | Link to this
Again a requirement for Fulton County Sheriff’s employees that they be within striking range of ideal body weight and pass physical fitness tests every 6 monthsand no guns in or near the courtroom would have avoided this time and money waste and significant injury to the unconstitutional court system in JawJaw.
Secondly, Howard and DOJ spent nearly ten million, (the AJC has yet to investigate or report on or try to itemize the amount) when spending most of the money could easily have been avoided. Howard stupidly insisted on a witness liet in the hundreds (most of which he did not call or need to call).
The fallout in the Nichols case was to take an initative that had been a long time in the making to provide a borderline constitutional Public Defender system and wreck it.
Georgia is not meeting the requirements of Alabama v. Shelton, the case mimicking it by Leah Ward Sears, and the other case mimicing it by Sonny Perdue’s former counsel now on the Ga. S. Ct. and staunch conservative Harold Melton; and they are falling far short after the Nichols case.
Georgia is also steadily moving towards a federal take over of their state court system once again.
Now Howard is proposing to spend more of your money in trying to get the Feds to launch a death penalty case against Nichols.
While anything could happen, the climate right now will be for the feds to turn this down. Mukasey stunned a number of people by reversing Gonzales a few days ago and refusing to seek the death penalty in a case in Brooklyn.
And I doubt whoever gets confirmed for AG, and I sure hope it won’t be Eric Holder—I’m with the Republicans on this one as well as the hemorrhage of money for the dead Michigan auto industry—will allow the Northern District of Georgia to waste so much money in a time when every agency is going to feel the budget crunch.
Life in prison for some people might be considerably more punishment although you’ll never get concensus on that.
Nichols will probably be segregated with pretty huge limitations on anything he can do or read or see, no matter where his venue.
By Morningstar
December 15, 2008 7:21 PM | Link to this
In the minds and hearts of all people, note I said PEOPLE, not perverts, it’s always best to error on the side of the possibly innocent.
On the other hand, isn’t it greater punishment to spend life in prison than death???? Huuuummmmm? Only costs the taxpayers more money for life. Now that’s a problem for some.
By Morningstar
December 15, 2008 7:37 PM | Link to this
By GOP is gone December 15, 2008 5:50 PM I believe that some people give up their right to live when they commit heinous crimes. Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and Brian Nichols. Manson should have been gone a long time ago.
OK GOP, in the case of these worthless dweebs, I’ll take back my comments at 7:21AM. I don’t believe in these cases ‘reasonable doubt’ exists, soooo it’s off to the hot seat ya go.
If there is a possibility of ‘reasonable doubt’ then meander around in pergatory for years and years, and ‘think about it.’
By ByteMe
December 15, 2008 7:49 PM | Link to this
Morningstar: studies have concluded that “life without parole” is cheaper than “death”, just because death creates a huge chain of legal procedings that non-death-penalty cases just don’t get.
By CommunistAJC
December 15, 2008 7:55 PM | Link to this
Nichols should be executed based on the fact that taxpayer money should not be wasted on his lifelong prison sentence. Nuff said.
By DB, Gwinnettian
December 15, 2008 7:55 PM | Link to this
Anyone want to wager on the number of ridiculous revenge fantasies that’ll be committed to the Intertubes before this thread wheezes its last?
By Steve Earle
December 15, 2008 7:57 PM | Link to this
There’s 27 men on death row Most are black, or brown, or poor Most of ‘em are guilty Who are you to say for sure?
By The Oddball
December 15, 2008 8:03 PM | Link to this
The Oddball concurs that there are some people who deserve to die for what they’ve done. However, the death penalty has to be administered fairly or not at all. There have been some horrific murders committed by wealthy white men in this state — Frederick Tokars comes to mind — but there ain’t no wealthy white men on death row. Like the Hardcore Troubador says, the only people we put to death are black or brown or poor. That ain’t right no matter how you spin it.
By Slowpainfuldeath
December 15, 2008 8:14 PM | Link to this
Given current forensics and science-based evidence capabilities how many “wrong” convictions have been made in recent years. The guilt of Nichols as well as many others not given the death penalty were never in question. What failed was a subjective irrational bleeding heart position of a juror(s) that no evidence would ever change — a unanimous jury vote for the death penalty DOES NOT WORK; 10-2 WILL WORK!!!! Nichol’s trial was flawed from the onset!!!! Just out of curiosity, what was the gender and race of the 3 misguided jurors?????
By GodHatesTrash
December 15, 2008 8:18 PM | Link to this
This is unrelated, but it looks like Caroline Kennedy is going to be the junior US Senator from New York!
Talk about great news! This will mean that there will be a Kennedy in the Senate for the foreseeable future, like there has been every year but 2 since 1953.
Of course, she’ll be in a great position to succeed Obama after his second term.
Who knows? Biden will be 70 in 2012 - maybe our next VP!
This is great news, not just for New York, but for the United States of America!
God Bless Us All!
By Chad Harris
December 15, 2008 8:19 PM | Link to this
How much it costs to keep Nichols in prison as a problem for tax payers is a gnat on a freight train.
ABC had a cover story a couple weeks ago on the prision industrial complex in JawJaw which ranks right up there at the top along with fetal wastage and poor neonatal care at which Jaw Jaw excells.
The unwitting and powerless taxpayers ahve been giving their money because they are too indifferent to elect a competent Congress by the billions to Wall Street billionaire and millionaire bonuses.
The lame duck(ing) administration may give away billions to a dead bunch of Detroit companies in the days to come between Barney cam and showing off its reflexes when people throw shoes at it and burn it’s likeness in the streets. I guess that ads new meaning to being “welcomed as liberators” and winning in Iraq as if it were the Jaw Jaw-Florida game.
By FryThem
December 15, 2008 8:24 PM | Link to this
All/most of those “innocent” people have a history of crime so removing them permanently from society is still a societal good (collateral damage in these instances is quite acceptable!!!).
Until we agree that certain demographic segments of society are inherently violent and have reptilian brains and should be removed from society more Nichols will emerge!!!
By T
December 15, 2008 8:33 PM | Link to this
I’ll donate the bullets.
By Chad Harris
December 15, 2008 8:33 PM | Link to this
Carolyn Kennedy is far from being the Senator from NY and she has zero in qualifications.
As is being pointed out by Jane Hamsher at FDL and many bloggers Kennedy seems to be alerting some eletes but not the people she would represent with whom she has had zero contact her entire life.
She is one of the last people qualified to tackle the complex problems NY faces and this country faces economically.
Kennedy has done zero to tell the people that would vote for her in an election and the ones she would govern why they should elect her and what she stands for. She could easily get the airtime if she made a speech but has chosen not to.
If Kennedy is appointed it is a testamant to the stupidity in the way American Congress people who have no qualifications show up there.
By Chad Harris
December 15, 2008 8:38 PM | Link to this
Kennedy is alerting elites as well, but not the people with whom she has had little to no contact her entire 51 years of life.
By Mr Snarky
December 15, 2008 8:48 PM | Link to this
As long as there are groups in society like “Frythem” who view others groups as inherently worthless, we’ll have plenty of violence and more killers like Nichols. What goes around comes around.
By AJC/DNC Management
December 15, 2008 8:56 PM | Link to this
KKKlinton has ruined New York, KKKennedy would finish it off.
Hell yeah, Select her.
Anyone ill enough to elect a power mongering pinkkko to “represent” them deserves to endure great suffering.
Hopefully the US will survive Wonder Boy but it damn sure won’t be pretty.
By Jeff Thrasher
December 15, 2008 8:58 PM | Link to this
Are you kidding me? How does a POS like this not get the death sentence? Who was on that jury? These are very sad times we live in today and this just adds to it. As for a gamble, this should have been a sure thing with right minded people on the jury. Now our tax dollars are not only bailing out the rich, they are keeping murders alive. What a joke this country has become.
By Jeff Thrasher
December 15, 2008 9:00 PM | Link to this
Are you kidding me? How does a POS like this not get the death sentence? Who was on that jury? These are very sad times we live in today and this just adds to it. As for a gamble, this should have been a sure thing with right minded people on the jury. Now our tax dollars are not only bailing out the rich, they are keeping murders alive. What a joke this country has become.
By givemeabreak
December 15, 2008 9:08 PM | Link to this
Nichols is a disgusting waste of air. I commend Paul Howard and his office for sticking to his guns and seeking the death penalty for that fool. The 3 “holdouts” were not the three that were honest during jury selection and clearly lied to thwart true justice for the surviving victims and the families of those killed. Candee Wilhelm’s statement summed it up perfectly. I pray the feds step in with a more educated jury pool and right this wrong.
By Anthony
December 15, 2008 9:31 PM | Link to this
I have no LOVE for the so called “Criminal Justice System”. I am witness to their daily railroading of the disenfranchised in our society. If you have money you have a great chance of beating any case but if you are poor God help you. I am not saying that I agree with what Brian Nichols did to all those so called “Law Enforcement” types but I *UNDERSTAND!!! * Howard the Idiot DA spent @ $10 million to kill this man and now that he did not get his wish he’s crying FOUL. Get over yourself Howard the Idiot, you should have just offered Mr. Nichols what the jury gave him Saturday but only 2 1/2 years ago, basically life without the possibility of parole and spare all involved the spectacle. As for that Fed’s wife the Willheim chick, please take your A$$ back to the sticks of NC where you belong. You too broke the law and did not even get a slap on the wrist (taking a loaded weapon into a courthouse). You husband was after all a COP and you and him both were aware that he could die in the line of duty. Go have your pity party in NC with all the other hillbillies. As long as there are people like me and those 3 jurors in this world we will get on some if not all your DEATH PENALTY cases and put a “monkey wrench” in your system. You cannot say on one hand it’s wrong to kill then turn right around and kill in the name of the “LAW”, that’s hypocrisy.
By AJC/DNC Management
December 15, 2008 9:42 PM | Link to this
And you might even say that the Republican Party is in the situation it’s in precisely because of the people like Colin Powell and John McCain and others who have devised this new definition and identity of the party which is responsible for electing Democrats all over this country. -Rush Limbaugh
Word up.
By sunshine and thunder
December 15, 2008 9:47 PM | Link to this
HEY ANTHONY
Put a fork in it.
By Billy
December 15, 2008 10:01 PM | Link to this
Bud Wiser —
How many people have you killed? For how many people have you officially voted for a death sentence?
Almost 35 years ago, when he was in college, my father shot and killed a serial rapist who was in the process of abducting another woman. The guy likely would have killed her. My dad confronted him with his hunting rifle. The guy fired at my dad, who shot back. Completely justifiable by most anyone’s standards. Our hometown honored my dad with a proclamation naming a day after him. He was treated like a hero to some extent. He still has occasional nightmares stemming from he incident.
Maybe it would be easy for you to take another human being’s life, Bud. I’d wager that a large portion of people who feel like they could easily do it would balk when faced with the prospect. When actually faced with the decision, maybe the jurors thought, “Gee, I don’t think I could personally kill him, and this isn’t far from that. I mean, if he were an imminent threat, then maybe so, but no one is under any imminent threat from him now…”
Killing a person affects you, even if it’s justified or even necessary. Those who are so eager to pull the trigger/flip the switch/press the plunger are either full of self-righteousness or bloodlust. Neither has a place in determining a man’s fate.
By Brock
December 15, 2008 10:08 PM | Link to this
I commend the 3 jurors who did not vote for death. There are many who oppose the death penalty in our society, so it is gratifying to see that come out in the deadlock. Why should only pro-death jurors be chosen?
Fot those who argue the cost to imprison Nichols should be considered, too bad that was not done before this trial. The state would have $10 million to cover the cost that has now been flushed down a rathole.
It’s time we join the rest of the civilized world and do away with the death penalty. Not only is it wrong, it’s hugely uneconomic.
By AmVet
December 15, 2008 10:12 PM | Link to this
*the Republican Party is in the situation it’s in precisely because of the people like Colin Powell and John McCain…*
The doltish neo-cons have gotten their heads kicked in twice in a row, to be sure. AND to the relief of much of the nation.
But NOT because of those two men.
I predict several more…
By GodHatesTrash
December 15, 2008 10:30 PM | Link to this
Well, AmVet, Hensley-McCain did pick Daisy Mae Mooseburger as his VP…
It’s gonna be awhile before the GOP lives that kkklown down.
By Amazing
December 15, 2008 10:48 PM | Link to this
Amazing how every time the state loses they want to change the rules. Look at our (Ga) death row now. They obviously get the death sentence often enough.
Why do people who are not there think the 3 jurors did not CONSIDER the death penalty? I think they probably did and chose not to kill someone. Simple. Voir dire is all about would someone CONSIDER all sentencing options. They are not promising a result.
By Plug
December 16, 2008 12:29 AM | Link to this
Jay I like the plan for Nichols to spend the rest of his life in solitude of a max security prison. For a guy in his late 30’s used to good money, food and women such treatment will hurt more and longer than a quick shot of drugs that put him into peaceful sleep. The years will pass slow for him….and finally after his long wait….the undertaker will come to his cell.
By My Sentiments Exactly
December 16, 2008 2:45 AM | Link to this
Well said, PLUG
By Red Foreman
December 16, 2008 8:08 AM | Link to this
Maybe we can set him free…better yet, Jay can act as some kind of sponser and he can live at the Bookman house!
By Ayn Rand was Right
December 16, 2008 8:24 AM | Link to this
How many innocent people did Brian Nichols kill? How many innocent people are killed by criminals released early, or by accident? We really must stop worrying so much about the exceptions in our society and worry about the rules. Jay and Co…what will you do when you receive that it is you have been requesting? Mr. O.J. Simpson is a perfect example. The men in Las Vegas are only lucky that this time he didn’t kill. When there is abject lawlessness in the streets because we worry more about the rights of the wrong than the wrongs visited on those living right, will you still sing the same tune? It seems not a long time from now until we know the answer.
As my father always said, be careful who your associates are, their behavior is a direct reflection on you. Guilt by association is a heavy cross to carry.
By Call it Like it is
December 16, 2008 8:27 AM | Link to this
What a typical liberal comment Jay.
Give Atlanta a break!
Now we all can pay to house this thug up for the next 50-60 years.
Wow, some penality.
GOD Bless the families who have suffered the most in this mess.
Enough Said!
By Shawny
December 16, 2008 8:34 AM | Link to this
You can argue innocents may die till the cows come home, so we don’t change the laws and processes so we don’t have another innocent. I can almost buy that argument.
HOWEVER, you and everyone else knows that Nicols needs to perish and now, without further waste of support. Explain how we can change the system without impacting the innocent so that we can truly perform justice on the guilty. Do not cloud the issue. Some cases are black and white, like this one. This man killed. He did it multiple numbers of times.
By gatorboy62
December 16, 2008 9:04 AM | Link to this
Jay, you are against the death penalty, regardless of the evidence. Had Hitler and Saddam had been on trial I am sure one of the Fulton jury member would vote against conviction!
By DeKalb Voter
December 16, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this
Are we really surprised that he avoided the death penalty in Atlanta? NO! I have lived in DeKalb county or twenty years and I can’t begin to count the number of murders I see here in this county on a daily basis yet DeKalb only recently handed down the first death penalty to someone in twenty years. Blacks…. simply put, have a very hard time giving death to another black. Sure, many black people wanted to see Nichols put to death but more than likely, more wanted his life spared. You usually don’t see white people on the news as quick to forgive as you do blacks. Whites are tougher on crime, it’s a fact. Had Nichols been in front of a white jury, he’d be on death row today. Let’s not forget it took a white jury from a different part of the state to convict the guy that killed the DeKalb County sheriff a few years back. A DeKalb jury allowed the whole killing crew to go free. In the long run it’s usually blacks that suffer from the lenient sentences black juries hand out, most of the time the thugs keeps the crime in their own neighborhood because they know that have a far better chance of getting killed in self-denfense in a white neighborhood while doing their crimes. This was indeed a race issue, 100%. Let the punk rot in a cell in the supermax for 23 hours a day. Let him die a slow death…day by day.
By dw
December 16, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this
To GodHatesTrash@8:18PM,
The best thing the Kennedys can do is give away all their money to the poor and downtrodden, that they claim to care about and represent, and then go away. Why are you so enamored by the name “Kennedy”? They are just rich people who talk a good game to be in politics but don’t know a thing about what it is to be in the masses.
By JakeDSnake
December 16, 2008 9:30 AM | Link to this
Let me explain the difference between Liberals and Conservatives to help everyone understand where Bookman is coming from: Liberals want to make sure they kill off as many human beings as possible before they’re born. But once they’re born, they want to keep them alive at all cost. Conservatives want to ensure that people get born no matter what the curcumstances. But once they’re born, they want to kill them off at the first opportunity.
By SAR
December 16, 2008 9:31 AM | Link to this
God gates Trash, get some much needed and probably soon-to-be-court order therapy for being so ashamed of who you are. It’s glaringly obvious you are ashamed of your own race. Pitiful.
By John
December 16, 2008 9:32 AM | Link to this
Read Paul Howard’s letter in today’s paper. I’m proud that he carried this case to trial and sought justice rather than taking the course of least resistance.
Nichols was not the only criminal in this case. The defense team’s strategy was to drive up costs as much as possible and hope that the public would balk. The original judge who allowed this to turn into a circus. Three jurors broke their OATH to participate in deliberations.
The only sliver lining in the sentecing verdict is that we don’t have to endure appeals from Nichols for the next 20 years. Maybe the Feds will have better luck in convicting him after he hunted down a federal agent and murdered him in cold blood.
By Real Justice
December 16, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this
Real justice is what happened to the 6 young gang banger crooks that went on a crime spree in DeKalb to Douglas County on Sunday night whent he cops pitted their car and one of the idiots was sent flying through the windshield and half of him was still i the truck and the other half on the road. LOL !!!!!!!!!!!! That’s real justice !!!!! I’d like to see the look on his stupid mama’s face when they handed him to her in two pieces !!! LOL !!!!
By tiff
December 16, 2008 10:19 AM | Link to this
No wonder the AJC keeps Jay and Cynthia around, I guess they figure with a company that big they need at least two working brains. I’ve heard of changing the game in the ninth inning, but why do we have a jury system if you are not going to abide by their decisions. People get picked, they stay off work to do their duty and then people like Paul Howard say “Well we don’t think you made the right decision”. So why did you put me on the jury. If you wanted a yes man, you should have asked me if I was willing to be that. Or maybe you should just be judge, juror, and executioner all in one. That would save the taxpayers a lot of money.
By Peadawg
December 16, 2008 11:06 AM | Link to this
Let him slowly rot in jail. Lethal Injection is too quick. Let him rot and have to watch his back everytime he bends down to pick up the soap.
Only God should have say in who dies and when they die.
By making
December 16, 2008 11:19 AM | Link to this
Too much money has been spent on this worthless piece of meat…put him in jail and let him escape and shoot him…case closed.
Too many Kennedys in politics already. Next choice please!
By phantomx1
December 16, 2008 12:14 PM | Link to this
If THIS GUY can’t get the death penalty, then why have one at all?
This sends a message that you can do anything and not get the death penalty.
Now we have to pay for this dirtbag’s expenses the rest of his life- (not to mention all the expenses we’ve already wasted on this a*******hole.)
By Christian Barbarians for Justice
December 16, 2008 12:24 PM | Link to this
Just love to read the hypocrites from the right, defending the sanctity of life at birth and demanding the imposition of death after the commission of a heinous crime.
Is all life sacred or not?
I guess the Christian Barbarians for Justice get to decide when God’s protection ends and their lust for vengeance begins.
By Webspinner
December 16, 2008 12:25 PM | Link to this
I thought Paul Howard sought the death penalty at the request of the family of one of Brian Nichols’ victims. Are you saying it was a completely arbitrary decision?
By cc
December 16, 2008 12:25 PM | Link to this
nobody’s trying to drum up sympathy for brian nichols, he did horrible things and everybody knows it. so just because someone doesn’t believe exactly as you do does not make that person ‘for’ the murderer. just like when someone knows george bush is an idiot, it doesn’t make them ‘for’ the terrorists. as has been said. what people who aren’t sheep are saying is ‘thou shalt not kill’. why is that so hard to understand? make prison like it should be and put that scumbag there for the rest of his life. then, if you truly believe in God, let God do as he said he would do, let him take the vengeance. nichols should be punished on this earth, but killing him won’t fix anything, it won’t bring anybody back and compassion and forgiveness(not forgeting) are the words of Jesus and God, not spite and hatefulness, not becoming the murderer of a murderer. i don’t like nichols, i actually wish he were dead, but none of us are God and none of us should be trying to play God. what’s next, cutting off some kid’s hand because he stole some candy at the drug store?
By cc
December 16, 2008 12:32 PM | Link to this
it has been shown that trying to kill someone on death row, because of appeals, court cost, etc., costs more than housing an inmate for life. so if the costs you are worried about, then you should be against the death penalty.
By cc
December 16, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this
i’ve read the Bible and i’ve read the Koran, and you know what? Jesus wouldn’t be for the death penalty but Muhammed would be, many people on this blog sound more muslim than christian.
By Call it Like it is
December 16, 2008 1:18 PM | Link to this
No cc,
More people here sound sane, not like some insane!
An eye for an eye.
Enough Said.
By Truthman
December 16, 2008 1:43 PM | Link to this
Isn’t it funny (funny faux pas, not funny ha, ha) that this is the least favorite VENT today:
“The three jurors who voted against the death penalty not only read the Bible, but understand it and live by it.”
By cc
December 16, 2008 2:54 PM | Link to this
an eye for an eye makes you no better than brian nichols, who took out his pain on others, who wanted to dole out his own belief of justice. i truly believe that if you put Jesus on a jury, he would never vote for the death penalty. i like JC, and think that it is harder and takes more courage to forgive than it does to lash out. and hatred and death only breeds more hatred and death. this has been proven time and again in the middle east. brian nichols is lowdown piece of crap, that’s why we shouldn’t emulate him. murdering the murdered is not manly, not christian and not the answer. by not murdering him we separate ourselves from his kind, punish him in a real prison for the rest of his life. then God, if you truly believe in God, can take care of the rest, unless you think you no more than God.
By like it is
December 16, 2008 2:57 PM | Link to this
just think how many people in history were called insane only later to be proved right. Jesus was one of those folks.
By Suchates the Philosopher
December 16, 2008 3:18 PM | Link to this
you can expect cruelty from the weak and compassion from the strong. and no one ever reaches their intellectual potential and drops their ignorance until they can allow themselves to be called names by others.
By Mr. Huh?
December 16, 2008 3:49 PM | Link to this
people tell me I’d be smart if it weren’t for all that thinking I do…
By Bud Wiser
December 16, 2008 4:36 PM | Link to this
By gatorboy62
December 16, 2008 9:04 AM | Link to this
Jay, you are against the death penalty, regardless of the evidence. Had Hitler and Saddam had been on trial I am sure one of the Fulton jury member would vote against conviction!
Only if they were black gatorboy, only if they were black.
By John Doe
December 16, 2008 5:49 PM | Link to this
God hates trash, I love your Bush reference. XD
By jacob
December 18, 2008 12:52 PM | Link to this
whyd u delte my comments losers
By tommy
December 18, 2008 12:53 PM | Link to this
whyd you delete my comment you losers…