A judge was appointed Tuesday to decide whether the judge in the Brian Nichols murder case should be replaced.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Daniel Coursey Jr. will decide whether the current judge's expressions of friendship for one of the victims should disqualify him from presiding over the death-penalty trial.

No court date was immediately set.

Coursey, a veteran judge, has presided over a wide range of cases in the Stone Mountain Circuit, including brutal murders, MARTA union contract disputes and permitting Shorter College to split from the Georgia Baptist convention.

Last week, Cobb County Superior Court Judge James Bodiford refused a defense request that he step down, but he agreed to let another judge decide if he is fit to preside over the upcoming Fulton County trial.

Nichols is accused of killing three people at the Fulton courthouse and an off-duty federal agent later in the day on March 11, 2005.

One of the victims was Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, and the Marietta Daily Journal interviewed Bodiford, who said the death hit close to his heart.

"Almost as close as it can be," the newspaper quoted Bodiford as saying four days after the shootings. "He was a friend of mine. All the nice things said about him were true."

All Superior Court judges in Fulton County recused themselves because of their relationship with Barnes. In February, Bodiford was appointed to replace DeKalb County Senior Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller, who removed himself because of remarks he had made about Nichols in the New Yorker magazine.