Brian Nichols doesn't want his face broadcast the week before his upcoming trial for four murders because he's bearded.

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John Spink/jspink@ajc.com

Brian Nichols, with beard, confers with Robert McGlasson Wednesay in court.

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Your Turn The beard makes Nichols look   Sinister   Normal   Neither, but issue could help his insanity defense! Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Nichols thinks the facial hair makes him look more sinister.

His lead attorney, Henderson Hill, asked a judge at a hearing in Fulton County court Wednesday to bar television cameras from videotaping his image because he hadn't had time to shave.

"It is the one image of Mr. Nichols that is so fraught with prejudice," Hill said.

Superior Court Judge James Bodiford didn't buy it. He voiced empathy at Nichols' grooming plight, noting that facial hair is a personal thing, but added he didn't think he should ban the image.

He suggested some viewers might favor Nichols with a beard.

"Mr. Nichols has a beard; it appears to be well groomed," Bodiford said.

The judge also made it clear that he thought the 40 minutes spent on the issue was a waste of time and warned that if lawyers keep bringing up such issues it will mean extra long days and extra long weeks when jury selection starts July 10.

Bodiford has promised that the trial — which has been delayed repeatedly, often by funding issues for the defense — will start in July and finish by the end of the year.

The judge plans to hold court six days a week to deal with what is expected to be months of jury selection and trial.

"I hope we're not going to spend a half hour of our mornings dealing with issues like this," Bodiford said about the facial hair concern. "If we do, we're talking about Sundays and I know nobody wants that."

Nichols escaped from the Fulton County Courthouse on March 11, 2005, where he was on trial on charges of kidnapping and raping his former girlfriend.

He is accused of murdering Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, who was presiding over the rape case, and court reporter Julie Ann Brandau after escaping from his holding cell, and of murdering Sheriff Deputy Hoyt Teasley who answered a call from court personnel from help. He is also accused of murdering David Wilhelm, an off-duty immigration and customs agent, later in the day in another part of the city.

Nichols contends he suffered from a delusional compulsion at the time of the killings that overcame his will to resist committing the killings, and thus is not guilty of murder under Georgia law.

Wednesday's hearing was partly to consider prosecutors' request that Bodiford order Nichols' attorneys to turn over all mental-health examinations and testing of Nichols.

Prosecutors believe Nichols was tested by psychiatrist who has not been disclosed to them. The state wants the results.

Dr. Robert Phillips, a forensic psychiatrist, testified that it was common in criminal trials for the defense to turn over all mental-health exams and tests of a defendant because it aids in diagnosis.

Nichols' long-delayed trial is set to get underway July 10.