Nichols’ delusion danger debated

A New York psychiatrist took a defensive stance as a prosecutor tried to make him admit that Brian Nichols would be dangerous if he escaped again.

Dr. Richard G. Dudley Jr. had testified that Nichols is still delusional —- a diagnosis the jury has rejected in deciding Nichols guilt. Defense lawyers hope that argument still will save Nichols’ life.

“So he still poses a danger … to the citizens of Fulton County should he escape again?” asked prosecutor Clint Rucker.

“No, I can’t assume that,” said Dudley, who was called as a defense witness.

Rucker looked perplexed. He had just gotten the psychiatrist to state he believed that Nichols killed four people on March 11, 2005, because he believed he was leading a “slave rebellion.” And Dudley said Nichols’ mental health had deteriorated during seven months in jail before he escaped from custody during his rape trial and committed the killings.

Rucker suggested that Nichols should now be more delusional after spending more than three years in jail, but Dudley said the delusion waxes and wanes.

“It depends on the intensity of the delusion,” he said.

Rucker tried again: “Should he escape, he is still a danger to the public?”

“I’m a little less clear about that,” Dudley said.

“The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, would you agree with that?” Rucker asked.

Dudley replied: “It is one of the predictors.”

Jurors rejected Nichols’ not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity plea and convicted him of four capital murders on Nov. 7. In the penalty phase of the trial, prosecutors who are seeking the death penalty put on evidence that Nichols will pose a continuing danger to society. Nichols has pledged to escape from prison, take vengeance against a longtime girlfriend and “die on his feet,” according to evidence.

He defense lawyers hope evidence that Nichols, despite having a middle-class upbringing, had a traumatized childhood and suffered from mental health problems will stop the jury from delivering what would be the fourth Fulton County death penalty in 12 years.

Dudley testified that Nichols, 36, was sexually abused as a young boy by his older brother, Mark, and “Reginald,” an older cousin. Later in life, Nichols, who became a body builder and a martial artist, saw himself as a protector of vulnerable people, Dudley said.

Nichols was on trial for allegedly raping his girlfriend when he overpowered two sheriff’s deputies, seized their pistols, and went into the courtroom and killed Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, 64, who was presiding over his rape trial, and the court reporter, 46-year-old Julie Ann Brandau. He killed Deputy Sgt. Hoyt Teasley, 43, who tried to capture him outside the courthouse; and, that night, he fatally shot 40-year-old David Wilhelm, a U.S. Customs agent, at a house the agent was building and where Nichols sought shelter.

Dudley gave a new motive for Brandau’s death, which had puzzled investigators because Nichols was selective in his killing and hadn’t shot other court staff.

Nichols claimed he killed Brandau because each night she baked goodies for the jurors to enjoy the next day, Dudley told jurors. Nichols said he believed the baking showed Brandau was helping the judge and prosecutors convict him, Dudley said.

The baking story was different from what Nichols stated in his taped confession to Atlanta police. In the confession, Nichols at first said Brandau was the “secondary target” of his assault on the court. Later in the interview, he claimed he didn’t remember shooting her at all.