Besieged Judge Hilton Fuller Steps Down in Nichols Case

By now, this probably isn’t even news to Geoff Sharp in New Zealand, but since it was in my backyard, I thought I’d comment. As you may have heard, retired Judge Hilton Fuller stepped down as the presiding jurist in the Brian Nichols/Fulton County Courthouse shooting case after he was quoted in the New Yorker as saying,

“Everyone in the world knows he did it.”

Since taking over the case because every other sitting judge in Fulton County rightfully recused themselves, he has been nothing but a “debacle and embarrassment.” Those aren’t my words. Those are the words of a Fulton County Superior Court Judge in an email to his colleagues.

The defendant, Brian Nichols, is accused of killing four people, the judge presiding over his trial for rape, the court reporter, a Sheriff’s deputy and a federal agent nearly three years ago. He overpowered a 51-year old, 5′2″ female sheriff’s deputy, took her sidearm, entered the courtroom and shot Judge Rowland Barnes in the back of the head.

Judge Fuller allowed the defense team to charge $175 per hour, nearly twice the rate paid to other court appointed counsel, and rack up nearly $2 million in bills, to be paid by the taxpayers. Because the State refused to cave to this extortion, he halted the trial during jury selection. He was also criticized by the Georgia legislature and the Fulton County District Attorney.

Two “tough but fair” jurists have volunteered to take over the case.

I fully understand that he is entitled to a defense, and the potential grounds for appeal, but for nearly three years Judge Fuller has coddled this man and his defense lawyers, compounding this horrible tragedy and rendering it an absurd joke (in the existential, Jean-Paul Sartre sense of the word).