Inmate who testified against Nichols hospitalized after beating

A key witness against Brian Nichols was beaten at the Fulton County Jail Tuesday night — almost immediately after testifying that Nichols’ killing of a judge was premeditated.

Five prisoners attacked Willie Tiller minutes after he returned from Fulton County Superior Court, said Riley Taylor, an auditor overseeing the jail compliance with a federal court order designed to make the jail safer.

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John Spink/jspink@ajc.com

Willie Tiller testified Tuesday in Brian Nichols’ murder trial. He was beaten shortly after he returned to jail from giving his testimony.

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Taylor, a retired Fulton County sheriff’s captain, said that Tiller should have been better protected. Tiller, a convicted armed robber and former Nichols cellmate, had volunteered his testimony.

“It was clear retaliation for his testimony in the Nichols trial — that was his [Tiller’s] statement,” Taylor said. “They should have taken more due caution because his testimony was all over the news. But it didn’t happen that way.”

Sheriff Myron Freeman said jailers would have taken special measures to protect Tiller if they had known he needed protection.

“We take appropriate precautions whenever we are made aware that an inmate’s testimony puts his or her life in danger,” Freeman said in a prepared statement. He said such precautions were taken in an unrelated case “but we were never informed about the magnitude of Willie Tiller’s testimony. In situations like this, it is critical we communicate.”

District Attorney Paul Howard said it was his “understanding” that his office had requested that Tiller be transferred to a “facility away from the Fulton County Jail,” but he wouldn’t elaborate. Howard said he is investigating how the key witness was put in jeopardy and has asked Atlanta police to investigate whether criminal charges could be pursued against guards who didn’t protect Tiller. His office is seeking indictments against the inmates involved in the attack, he said.

Howard said the attackers called Tiller a “snitch” and used fists, feet and homemade blackjacks — weighted socks — to beat him.

Tiller identified his attackers, including Kenneth Reese, who, like Nichols, is charged with murdering a law officer and is awaiting his own death penalty trial. At least two of the other attackers face murder charges, Taylor said.

Nichols confessed to killing four people after he escaped from custody at the Fulton County Courthouse in 2005, including the judge who was presiding over his rape trial.

He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

The attack happened in the wing of the jail that houses high-profile inmates and it occurred when guards were serving supper in another section, Taylor said. Tiller fought off his attackers, and guards arrived shortly afterward, Taylor said.

“They found Tiller standing with his face bloody,” Taylor said. “His eyes were swollen from the blows to the head.”

Tiller was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he underwent surgery for facial injuries, Howard said.

Tiller had testified at length Tuesday — tearfully at one point — about how Nichols told him he was planning to kill Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes because he thought the judge wasn’t treating him fairly. Nichols said he planned to escape by overpowering a guard, getting a gun and shooting his way to freedom if necessary, Tiller said.

“I asked him not to do it … I asked him a thousand times not to,” Tiller testified. “In my time, I’ve done a lot of dirt but that was too much over the edge.”

He said he promised Nichols that he would not divulge the escape plans but came forward because he wanted to “tell the truth and get it off my conscience.”

“I guess I should have told somebody. … I guess it was as much my fault as his fault for not telling no one.”

Just as Nichols confided in Tiller what he would do, he subdued a guard on March 11, 2005, and began his killing spree, killing Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau and sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Hoyt Teasley at the Fulton County Courthouse.

He also confessed to killing David Wilhelm, an off-duty federal agent, in Buckhead while on the run.