The former judge in the Brian Nichols' murder trail, Hilton Fuller, said Saturday that prosecutors share the blame with defense attorneys for all the delays and millions of dollars spent in the case.

Nichols is charged in the March 11, 2005 murder of Fulton Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes and three others.

PHOTOS • A look at the case 2005-present • Penalty phase | Verdict • Weeks in court: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 • Interactive graphic: The 2005 shootings • Video: Nichols' confession MORE STORIES 4 years after attacks, courthouse lacks security plan  Gwinnett won't prosecute Nichols for kidnapping  Feds won't seek death penalty for Nichols  In prison, cellphone is coveted contraband  Police reveal little about Nichols manhunt errors  Nichols trial holdouts: 'Show me something'  Nichols says he was at war with U.S. government in taped confession AJC's full trial coverage RELATED LINKS Atlanta news Georgia and metro news

This week, Superior Court Judge James Bodiford, Fuller's successor in the case, announced a trail date of Sept. 22 — more than three years after the killings, and more than 18 months after jury selection was started and then delayed.

According to the Associated Press, Fuller told a panel Saturday morning at the American Bar Association's annual meeting in New York that prosecutors from Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard's office could have scaled down their case without compromising it, saving money and time.

Prosecutors presented a 54-count indictment, including four murders, for crimes that took place at 13 separate crime scenes, and they identified 487 witnesses, Fuller said.

"Prosecutors could have proceeded with one or two counts," Fuller told the panel. "Ten witnesses could prove that case."

Howard declined to comment Saturday, saying there is a gag order in the case.

Fuller, reached by telephone Saturday, played down the significance of his comments.

"This was a small educational seminar for professionals studying capital indigent defense funding issues," Fuller said. "There is nothing new here. I said nothing that I have not previously said in court-filed documents."

A retired Superior Court Judge from DeKalb County, Fuller was brought in when all the Fulton County bench recused itself from the case.

He was harshly criticized by state lawmakers and others for his handling of the case, including his decision to hire four attorneys for Nichols, running expenditures in the case up to $1.8 million.

Fuller suspended the trial indefinitely last year when state money for the case was cut off. He resigned from the case in January after he was quoted in The New Yorker magazine saying, "Everyone in the world knows he [Nichols] did it."

Nichols' attorneys have not disputed their client is the killer. They have entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Bodiford, a Cobb County judge, took over the case in February. Jury pool selection entered its 25th day Saturday. Bodiford predicted the pool will be complete in two weeks.

Through court spokesman Don Plummer, Bodiford declined to comment Saturday on Fuller's comment or whether Fuller violated a gag order by commenting.

Even though Bodiford has said many times from the bench during jury selection that jurors and parties in the case cannot talk about it, Plummer said there is no gag order, just a "gentleman's agreement ... that none of the parties in the case would talk about it."

Michael Mears, a professor at John Marshall Law School who was head of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council when funding the Nichols defense became an issue and Fuller suspended the case, said Saturday he agreed with Fuller's statement that the defense wouldn't have spent as much if the prosecution had narrowed its case.

"I am somewhat surprised that this level of candor has been expressed by a judge involved in the case," Mears said. "However, I find myself in full agreement with Judge Fuller. This is something I've said in the past."

Georgia lawmakers approved new measures this year to ban senior judges such as Fuller — who are not elected — from hearing death penalty cases. They also tightened the public defender system's budget.

Fuller told the ABA panel that political pressure in a capital case is intense and rarely works in a defendant's favor. Yet judges have to ensure a fair proceeding, no matter how unpopular, he said.

"I was doing my job, and I would do the same things again," Fuller said. With a lengthy trial to follow and appeals sure to come after that, he said, the case "will be pending for the rest of my lifetime."