COURTS HAVE NOW cleared the way for Brian Nichols to be charged in the courtroom deaths that he is alleged to have committed on Friday. A mistrial has been declared today in the original rape trial that he was undergoing. The federal firearms charge against him has been dropped to allow the new charges to be filed against him. A courthouse surveillance camera apparently recorded the attack on the sheriff's deputy. Paul Howard, district attorney for Fulton County, when asked whether Nichols would face the death penalty, had the following comment:

"My gut tells me that this is one of the most gut-wrenching crimes that has ever taken place in our country, and so maybe one can interpret from that."

People who Nichols when he was younger are shocked.

Nichols is described as a "massive" specimen, someone who you didn't mess with.

Again, why was a single, physically small sheriff's deputy - whether man or woman - handling Nichols alone? This should never have been allowed to happen. It was a monumental screw up that has cost four people a violent end to their lives.