NICHOLS TRIAL: Deputy: Guard trusted suspect

The images jurors watched Wednesday were silent and disquieting.

Brian Nichols, captured in the freeze frames of a video surveillance camera as he overpowered a deputy —- hitting her so hard in the face her feet left the ground —- then, about 4 1/2 minutes later, leaving the holding cell at the Fulton County Courthouse.

These were the first few minutes of a rampage that began about 9 a.m. March 11, 2005, a rampage that would end with four people dead and the biggest manhunt in Atlanta history.

Nichols has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

His lawyers contend a delusion made him view himself as unjustly persecuted by the justice system because he is black. Prosecutors say Nichols was methodical and conniving, not insane, and are seeking the death penalty.

For the first time in his murder trial, jurors saw pictures connected to the grisly sounds they heard during opening arguments, when the prosecution played an audiotape of gunshots and screams as Judge Rowland Barnes and court reporter Julie Ann Brandau were gunned down by Nichols, a few minutes after he escaped from the holding cell.

Wednesday’s testimony built all day to the dramatic moment when the still images, then the video, were played for the jury as prosecuting attorney Clint Rucker questioned video technician Michael Ganoe.

In the morning, a former Fulton County sheriff’s deputy testified that Nichols, who was in custody and on trial for rape, seemed to have won the confidence of guard Cynthia Hall two days before he attacked her in the holding cell.

Sharon Pauls, now a Clayton County patrol officer, said she became suspicious Nichols might be plotting something because he disobeyed her orders and acted in ways not typical of inmates.

But Hall, who usually guarded Nichols during the rape trial, chatted with the inmate in the manner of friends, and he seemed to have won special concessions from her, Pauls said.

“They seemed to be quite familiar with each other,” Pauls said. “They talked about the case, what had happened in court, they talked about their children.”

Pauls also testified that two days before the attack, she noticed Nichols wasn’t wearing leg shackles.

“Was that common?” asked prosecutor Michele McCutcheon.

“It was uncommon,” Pauls said. “Deputy Hall stated we didn’t need to put leg irons on him.”

Pauls, suspicious, ordered Nichols strip-searched after court that day. Two metal hinges, which she said could be used as weapons, were found in Nichols’ shoes. “There were just red flags all over the place,” she said.

Wednesday’s second witness was Fulton County detention Officer Dexter Jenkins, the officer who had found the metal hinges.

Jenkins said security was lax with Nichols the morning of the attack, and that he was surprised the powerfully built inmate was escorted alone by a single female deputy to the holding cell.

Prosecutors said that when Nichols attacked Hall, he beat her so savagely she was left brain-damaged and probably won’t be able to testify at trial.

Nichols is accused of having taken Hall’s gun and using it to kill Barnes, the judge in his rape trial, and Brandau. He also is accused of ambushing and killing deputy Hoyt Teasley, who had pursued him, and off-duty federal agent David Wilhelm during a robbery while on the run.

Pauls said Nichols knew the rape trial was not going well for him. Earlier, another jury had hung on whether to convict him. Pauls said she heard Nichols tell prosecutor Ash Joshi that “he was doing a better job than the first time.”

The former guard said Nichols was so cagey, he tried to create a mistrial while she was escorting him to the courtroom by trying to let a juror in the hallway see him in handcuffs. Jurors aren’t permitted to see a defendant in shackles or handcuffs because of fears it would undermine a fair trial.

Pauls also said she had to admonish Nichols twice about trying to carry ink pens out of the courtroom in his Bible. Regular pens, which can be used as weapons, are contraband. The jail supplies inmates with pens made of rubber.

“I said, ‘Nichols, I told you before not to take pens out of your courtroom,’ ” Pauls testified. “And he said, ‘I don’t have a pen.’ I said, ‘Yes, you do. It is in your Bible.’ “

Staff writer Rhonda Cook contributed to this article.