DEL.ICIO.USUpdated: 3:25 p.m. November 20, 2008
Slain judge’s widow tells Nichols jurors of her pain
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The wife of murdered Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes described to jurors Thursday the “unbelievable devastation” she still feels more than three and a half years after her husband was gunned down in his courtroom by Brian Nichols.
As she read from a statement, Claudia Barnes never lost her composure, describing how she held her husband’s hand one last time before he was cremated. She said she ran her hands “close to his temple where the bullet entered and exited” because “I needed to see for myself that he was actually dead and this was not a dream.”
Hyosub Shin / hshin@ajc.com
Claudia Barnes, widow of slain judge Rowland Barnes, testifies Thursday in Brian Nichols’ trial.
Hyosub Shin / hshin@ajc.com
Kiley Barnes testfies on the impact of her father’s death.
Hyosub Shin / hshin@ajc.com
Christina Greenway, daughter of slain court reporter Julie Brandau, cries while testifying Thursday.
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Barnes, who has attended the trial almost every day for nine weeks, cried only after she left the stand. Barnes’ daughter, Kiley, is among the 13 family members and friends of Nichols’ four victims who are giving victim-impact statements during the sentencing phase of Nichols’ murder trial.
Nichols was convicted Nov. 7 of the March 11, 2005, killings of Judge Barnes and court reporter Julie Ann Brandau in Barnes’ courtroom at the Fulton County Courthouse, Deputy Hoyt Teasley outside the courthouse and U.S. Customs agent David Wilhelm later that night in Buckhead.
Claudia Barnes told jurors she deals with the loss of her husband daily. “There are days when stress gets the best of me and the skin on my hands breaks out, sending me to the doctor,” she said. “Now, going home every day to the void, I sometimes feel helpless.”
Earlier Thursday, an angry Superior Court Judge James Bodiford dressed down prosecutors for playing a tape-recorded phone call to jurors Wednesday of Nichols apparently threatening to kill Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.
Bodiford — responding to a defense call for a mistrial based on the phone call — said the prosecution violated a court order by playing the tape without first providing the defense a transcript of the call.
The judge, however, denied the request for a mistrial.
In the June, 30, 2006, call from the Fulton County jail, Nichols says to a person whom prosecutors did not identify that he is frustrated dealing with prosecutors in his case and “if I could do something different, I would have stopped on the third floor and shot your ass.”
Prosecuting attorney Clint Rucker then asked the witness on the stand when the tape was played if he knew whose office is on the third floor of the Fulton County Courthouse where Nichols went on his killing spree killing Judge Rowland Barnes and Julie Ann Brandau in Barnes’ 8th-floor courtroom.
“Paul Howard’s,” said Rick Jacobs, an expert on prison security for the State of Georgia.
The jury is hearing witnesses to determine whether he should get the death penalty, which the state is seeking, or life in prison.
Defense attorney Robert McGlasson said Nichols’ defense team was caught by surprise by the taped phone call and had never heard it before. McGlasson said presentation of the phone call did irreparable damage to Nichols’ defense
“This was harmful, this was damning,” said McGlasson. “This is a critical piece of evidence that the defense now has to deal with and weren’t even aware of it until yesterday afternoon. There is no way we can undo that harm, your honor.”
Lead prosecuting attorney Kellie Hill countered that the state had not provided a transcript of the phone call to the defense ahead of time because the state only discovered the contents of the recording Wednesday.
She said the prosecution gave the defens about 30 CDs that contained 21 calls, and the called played Wednesday was one of the calls on the CDs provided to the defense. “Initially this was not a call the state intended to use,” she said. “So we did not provide a transcript.”
McGlasson countered that prosecutors claimed two years ago that they had listened to all the calls on the CDs, and they were being “disingenuous” by claiming now they had never heard and weren’t aware of the call in which Nichols seems to be threatening the life of the DA who is prosecuting his case.
Bodiford said he would rule this morning, on a day that has been filled with courtroom fireworks. Earlier Bodiford sharply criticized security at the Atlanta Municipal Court where the trial is being held on the 6th floor, following the discovery that a razor and a pistol had made it building entry security.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Brian Nichols’ brother, Mark Nichols, was discovered last week with a straight razor, and, on Tuesday, that Candee Wilhelm — the widow of the slain U.S. Customs agent — had a pistol discovered in her purse by 6th-floor security in the building.
Nichols and Wilhelm said they had accidentally forgotten to remove the items before coming to the courtroom. They have not been charged.
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