Ga. Public Defender Office to Defy Judge (Brian Nichols case)

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Ga. Public Defender Office to Defy Judge

Thursday October 18, 2007 7:31 PM

By HARRY R. WEBER

Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP) - The state public defender's
office voted Thursday to defy a judge's order
to continue to provide funding for the legal
fees and expenses of the man accused of killing
four people in a 2005 rampage.

After meeting in private, the Georgia Public
Defender Standards Council agreed to tell
Superior Court Judge Hilton Fuller at a contempt
hearing that had been set for Monday that it
can't pay the costs and carry out its duty in
roughly 80 other capital cases in the state.

-snip-

The council's move follows Fuller's decision
Wednesday to indefinitely suspend jury selection
in Brian Nichols' state murder trial.

Fuller suspended the trial after Nichols' lawyers
demanded that individual questioning of prospective
jurors, which started Monday, stop immediately
until they receive money to pay their fees and
expenses.

The state public defender's office has said that
because of the amount of money already spent on
Nichols' defense so far - $1.8 million as of the
end of June - there isn't enough money for other
cases. As a result, it cut off funding to Nichols'
defense on July 1.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7006534,00.html