‘I wanted to disarm him’

Retired Fulton County Deputy Grantley White sobbed as he recounted one of his greatest heartaches to his already damaged heart; the day his friend and the judge he protected was shot dead while sitting on the bench.

White said he was testifying in the Brian Nichols case despite the risk of aggravating an existing heart condition because it was his duty.

White is to continue testifying today, when the trial begins its second week.

A former sheriff’s sergeant, White is credited with being one of the heros of the courthouse shooting, having faked a heart attack so he could fall and press a silent alarm while Nichols had a gun pointed at him and three others held hostage in the private office of Judge Rowland Barnes.

The deputy also blasted over the sheriff’s office radio system the news that Barnes and court reporter Julie Ann Brandau had been shot, and he provided a description of Nichols and a warning that the fugitive was armed with two guns he had taken from White and another deputy.

Nichols is charged with the deaths of Barnes, Brandau and two other people during his escape. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

White, 58, described the start of March 11, 2005, as a routine day. Brandau had brought a cake for the jurors who were expected to begin deliberating that day the charges that Nichols raped a former girlfriend. White filled the coffee pot and collected ice to put in the jury room.

Before leaving the jury room for the daily roll call in the Sheriff’s Office, White said, “I raised both hands in the air to God and prayed that God would protect me. … While I was doing that, I felt heat in my hands. I didn’t know what it was for.”

White then asked Barnes if he could grab breakfast while the judge heard arguments in a civil case before returning to the Nichols criminal case.

When White returned to the judge’s office with his eggs and toast, Nichols was waiting, gun in hand.

“He said, ‘Come on back, Sarge. Don’t do nothing. Don’t do nothing, Sarge,’” White said.

White said he tried to grab the gun Nichols was pointing, but the rape defendant stepped back and warned him again. “‘Don’t do nothing. I’ve got nothing to lose.’ I knew my life was in jeopardy. I wanted to disarm him.”

Instead, White had to handcuff two others in the office and then himself.

Moments later, White testified, he heard shots, fled the restroom where Nichols had left him and broadcast an alarm.

“I tried to go into the courtroom, and someone held me back,” White testified.

“I saw Judge Barnes on the floor. … I saw Julie.”

As White sobbed, unable to say anything more, Brandau’s daughter, Christina Scholte, fled the courtroom.

NICHOLS TRIAL

“I raised both hands in the air to God and prayed that God would protect me. … While I was doing that, I felt heat in my hands. I didn’t know what it was for.”

GRANTLEY WHITE, retired Fulton County Deputy (above)Brian Nichols (above) is charged with the deaths of a judge, court reporter and two other people during his escape. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.