Brian Nichols gets life without parole

Brian Nichols will spend life in prison with no possibility of parole for the March 11, 2005 Fulton County courthouse shootings, a judge said Saturday.

He also was sentenced to life on armed robbery charges and the maximum sentence on other charges with no possibility for probation, the judge said.

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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

“It’s a large number of years,” said Judge James Bodiford. “It’s many life times.”

Bodiford read the sentence Saturday for each of the 54 counts against Nichols after allowing him to speak. It was Nichols’ first time speaking in front of a public courtroom.

“I am sorry. I just want to say that I will not bring dishonor to the decision to spare my life,” Nichols said.

Nichols was spared a death sentence by a hopelessly deadlocked Fulton County jurors who had convicted him for the March 2005 courthouse shootings. The jury was deadlocked after four days of deliberations.

Under Georgia law, a death sentence can be carried out only after a unanimous decision by a jury.

The jury’s 9-3 vote split, with the majority in favor of Nichols dying by injection for killing four people in the rampage that terrorized Atlanta, shook Georgia’s judicial system, cost taxpayers millions of dollars and left the death penalty in doubt in Fulton County.

Bodiford, who shared several personal stories as he read the lengthy sentence, instructed those in court Saturday morning to remain seated as he read the sentencing. Bodiford said that because the jury was not in the courtroom Saturday morning he would relax previous rules and said he would not punish anyone for showing some emotion in the courtroom. Some jurors, however, may have been present in the audience Saturday.

In a passionate explanation, Bodiford said Nichols received, and deserved, a fair trial.

“Even though you may not like Mr. Nichols, let’s give a fair trial to everybody,” Bodiford said.

“It was in the realm of possibility that you would receive the death penalty,” Bodiford told Nichols Saturday. “Thank goodness (your parents) won’t see you put to death.”