Multiple life sentences for Nichols

Fulton County Judge James Bodiford has sentenced Brian Nichols to hundreds of years in prior for the 2005 killings of four people. Nichols escaped the death penalty after jurors deadlocked earlier this week. When a jury can’t agree on the death penalty, Georgia law kicks in and requires a judge to consider life in prison with or without a chance of parole. In 2005, Nichols was on trial for rape in Fulton County, when he grabbed a guard's gun and fatally shot the judge overseeing his case, a court reporter and a sheriff's deputy in a downtown Atlanta courthouse. During his day long escape, Nichols shot and killed an off duty federal agent, and took a local woman hostage. In his defense, Nichols claimed to be a slave revolting against his captors. Judge James Bodiford sentenced Brian Nichols to seven life sentences and four sentences of life without parole plus 485 years.

Nichols jury finalized

A jury of eight women and four men has been chosen to hear the case against Brian Nichols. Nichols will be tried in the 2005 shooting deaths of a judge, court reporter and sheriff's deputy, and a federal agent in Atlanta. The trial before Superior Court Judge James Bodiford is expected to last the rest of the year. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Opening statements are scheduled for Monday.

(Associated Press)

Brian Nichols lawyers want new judge

Lawyers for a man charged with killing four people in 2005 shooting spree that began inside a downtown Atlanta courthouse want the judge presiding over the case removed.

Brian Nichols' lawyers say in court papers Monday that Superior Court Judge James Bodiford was quoted in a newspaper article four days after the shootings saying that he was friends with the judge killed in the rampage.

It’s not the first time a judge has been removed from the trial.

Earlier this year, the first judge presiding over the Nichols case stepped down after he was quoted in a magazine article saying of Nichols that "everyone in the world knows he did it."

Nichols' murder trial resumes July 10.