DEL.ICIO.USBook: Brian Nichols called in threats while on the loose
Prosecutor Ash Joshi says he was threatened, but was not given protection
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Brian Nichols apparently watched television newscasts in the hours after the accused rapist escaped from the Fulton County Courthouse in March 2005, killing a judge, a court stenographer, a sheriff’s deputy and later a federal drug agent.
Nichols also called the 911 emergency center, as the late-afternoon news conference was being televised, to make a threat against the two assistant district attorneys who were prosecuting him on rape charges, according to a just-released book. The alleged threats have not previously been reported.
The book ‘Waking the Sleeping Demon’ was written mostly by Florida attorney Shoran Reid. Former assistant district attorney Ashe Joshi wrote some chapters in the book.
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One of those assistant DAs, Ash Joshi, says in his book that he was terrified and left voice-mail messages begging District Attorney Paul Howard to provide security for him and his family — but that Howard never returned his calls.
“I don’t know if it hurt me more professionally or [more] personally,” Joshi said in an interview.
Howard declined to comment Friday on Joshi’s complaints.
The book — “Waking the Sleeping Demon” — is authored mostly by Florida attorney Shoran Reid, who did her own research but also wrote details Joshi provided. Joshi wrote some chapters in the book.
The book’s release comes two weeks before lawyers pick jurors in the Nichols death-penalty case, with opening arguments set for Sept. 22. Nichols has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
“During Brian Nichols’ trial for murder, I will watch with a pained heart as the survivors recount their stories of his bloody rampage,” Joshi said in the book.
“I will remember my fear and the angst for the safety of my wife and children during his 26-hour crime spree. I will recall conversations I had with the victims before their premature deaths and I will grieve again. I will fight off the nagging thought, which comes less often these days but will never go away, that I bear some responsibility for this tragedy. I will not flinch, however, if a jury decides his punishment is death.”
Joshi, who is now a defense attorney, adds, “If I had convicted this guy, Rowland Barnes would still be alive.” Barnes was the Fulton County Court judge who was hearing the rape case. He, his court stenographer Julie Ann Brandau, deputy Sgt. Hoyt Keith Teasley and U.S. Customs agent David Wilhelm were killed after Nichols’ escape.
Also in the book, Joshi writes an “open letter” to Nichols. And he cites mistakes by himself, the DA’s Office, police, the Fulton Sheriff’s Office and court officials before and during the two rape trials, one ending with a hung jury and the other with Nichols’ escape from the Fulton County Courthouse. He also details the hours after Nichols escaped.
If any of those mistakes had not happened, Joshi said he believes Nichols would not have escaped on March 11, 2005.
“You change any factor and the whole thing could have been different,” Joshi said Friday.
A few of the missteps Joshi discusses in the book have been reported, but several have not become public.
One involves a videotape, which prosecutors said Nichols made of his alleged rape of a former girlfriend in August 2004.
Days after the alleged rape and Nichols’ arrest, Joshi said, an unnamed friend of Nichols went to a police impound lot and retrieved the videotape from Nichols’ car.
“Jurors would never see the videotape,” Joshi said. “It’s incredible to know that he [the friend] was even allowed near the vehicle in the first place … that a police officer did not escort Nichols’ friend to the car and create a record of what was removed.”
Joshi reveals in the book that Nichols’ friends warned the DA’s office he might escape. Joshi said in the book that one Nichols friend told prosecutors that Nichols planned to escape and asked him to leave a credit card in the pocket of the suit jacket he would wear to court.
Joshi said the prosecutors’ first rape case was weak so that jurors could not agree on a verdict. Joshi said prosecutor Gayle Abramson “was unprepared to cross examine,” another woman Nichols was dating. And Joshi said he, himself, was not as familiar with the case as he would like to have been.
“I wish I could say that I knew what every piece of paper in Nichols’ file said… but I can’t,” Joshi wrote. “In hindsight, there were so many questions I should have asked but didn’t.”
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