A Cobb judge who is an expert in family law and a Gwinnett judge who oversaw the high-profile murder trial of dentist Barton Corbin have volunteered to take over the beleaguered death penalty case of Fulton County courthouse rampage suspect Brian Nichols.

Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary E. Staley and Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Michael Clark have offered to preside over the case, which has faced five trial delays, said their staff attorneys Thursday.

File photo / AJC

Judge Mary E. Staley

File photo / AJC

Judge Michael Clark

John Spink/AJC

Judge Hilton M. Fuller

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Cobb County District Attorney Pat Head praised Staley's "no-nonsense" handling of an emotional death penalty case in 1999. Defendant Virgil Presnell had already been sentenced to die more than two decades earlier for raping a 10-year-old girl and drowning her 8-year-old schoolmate in a creek, but his sentence was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Staley oversaw the retrial and Presnell headed back to death row.

"She handled that well and we certainly didn't spend $2 million," Head said.

Staley is currently handling a flashy case that has gotten worldwide press, the bank robbery case of the so-called blond Barbie Bandits. That case is pending.

Clark, a lawyer for nearly three decades, was the first to be named as a potential jurist and also has experience in high-profile cases.

Clark seemed unfazed by a bevy of reporters in 2006 when he oversaw the Corbin case.

The Dacula dentist insisted he was innocent for years before pleading guilty in the middle of jury selection to killing his wife in Buford in 2004 and his dental school girlfriend in Augusta in 1990.

Veteran Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter wouldn't comment about Clark on Thursday, but he has previously said:

"He's a good, fair judge and knows the law. He lets both sides try their own case and doesn't interfere."

Superior Court Judge Quillian Baldwin, administrative judge of the 6th Judicial District, said he had asked Chief Superior Court judges in Gwinnett, Cobb and DeKalb counties to see if any of their jurists would agree to preside over the case.

He said a few judges have volunteered Thursday, but he wouldn't release the names. He also verified that one judge from another district had offered to handle the case.

Baldwin, from the Coweta Judicial Circuit, said he would be willing to select a judge from outside metro Atlanta, but he would prefer to find a judge who doesn't face a long commute.

Clark has worked as a defense attorney and prosecutor before becoming a judge. He earned a law degree from the University of Georgia.

Clark and Porter went head-to-head in 1985 during the death-penalty trial of Hazel Short —the first time Porter sought the death penalty.

Clark represented Short.

A Gwinnett County jury found Hazel Louise Criswell Short guilty of the burning, stabbing and strangulation murder of her ex-husband's 21-year-old fiancee. But jurors spared Short's life.

Staley joined the Cobb County District Attorney's Office as a prosecutor before winning election as a magistrate in 1982 and joined the State Court bench two years later, where she presided over misdemeanor and civil cases for eight years before moving to felony cases in Superior Court.

Quillian said he could select the new Nichols' judge by the end of next week.

The former trial judge in the death penalty case of suspect Nichols, Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller, began packing up his law books and other belongings Thursday to make room for a new judge.

Fuller wanted to finish what he had started nearly three years ago, but felt a comment attributed to him Tuesday on the New Yorker's Web site could jeopardize the case.

The judge, who is supposed to remain impartial, was quoted explaining why Nichols' team was mounting a mental illness defense: "That's their only defense, because everyone in the world knows he did it."

When he recused himself Wednesday, it was his own decision.

"I'm disappointed, professionally, that I've not been able to complete the case," he said Thursday. "I hope that a new judge will enable the case to get moving properly and that the money will become available."

The judge said he didn't recall making the statement.

On Thursday, he went further, saying: "I've never had an on-the-record conversation with any reporter about facts of any case."

Regardless, Fuller conceded that the damage was already done. He recused himself from the case on Wednesday.

Fuller, a senior judge from DeKalb County, spent three years fighting to give Nichols, of Sandy Springs, a fair trial.

Nichols is accused in the March 2005 slayings of a judge, court reporter, sheriff's sergeant and a federal agent.

Nichols has pleaded not guilty in the case.

His attorneys have filed a motion announcing their plans to use a mental illness defense, arguing that he suffered from a delusional compulsion that prevented him from controlling his actions.

The case has faced five trial delays —all blamed on a lack of defense funds. Nichols' attorneys have already spent about $1.5 million.