Posted on 03/13/2005 6:31:58 AM PST by mhking
A senior judge blamed the triple killing at the Fulton County courthouse Friday on sloppy security provided by the sheriff's department.
Senior Superior Court Judge Philip Etheridge said it was "absolutely ludicrous" that the sheriff's office would allow an armed deputy to be alone in a holding cell with a prisoner known to be a high security risk.
On Friday, Brian Nichols, a 33-year-old on trial for rape, overpowered Deputy Cynthia Hall, took her gun and escaped from the holding cell. He then went to Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes' chambers, where witnesses say he killed the judge and his court reporter, Julie Ann Brandau. He also is accused of killing another deputy and a U.S. Customs officer.
"This whole thing just makes me so angry because Rowland didn't need to die and Julie didn't need to die," said Etheridge.
Barnes had requested additional security for Nichols' trial on rape and other charges after deputies found two crude weapons in the defendant's socks earlier in the week. Sheriff Myron Freeman on Saturday could not say whether Hall was aware of the increased threat or whether extra precautions had been put into place.
Etheridge said the deaths were "absolutely preventable."
"You can't be lackadaisical when it comes to security; you have to get it right each time because it only takes one time," Etheridge said.
"There is no way that anyone could have thought Cynthia Hall would have been able to handle a situation with Brian Nichols. No bloody way."
Freeman, who has been in office since January, on Saturday said he will put together a task force to look at security procedures at the courthouse."It's a big issue," he said. "If something needs to be changed, we'll change it."
Freeman repeatedly refused to answer questions about current department policy or security procedures regarding prisoners. "Let's be patient and conduct a complete investigation," he said. "Once there's a complete investigation, we'll go from there."
Deputy Sgt. Charles Rambo said current policy guidelines allow a single deputy to escort as many as four prisoners at a time, and allows a solitary deputy to enter a holding cell with a prisoner.
Rambo, who ran against Freeman in the 2004 Democratic primary, said the new sheriff shouldn't be blamed for the security problem. Judges haven't always been cooperative when it comes to security measures, said Rambo, president of the Local 453 of the International Brotherhood of Police officers.
"Freeman has inherited some things and in three months he has not had the opportunity to correct some of these things," Rambo said. "He may have to battle with some of the judges on what the policies should be."
He said the office needs to develop physical fitness standards because some deputies aren't in good enough shape or are too small in stature to safely handle prisoners in a fight.
Rambo said deputies transporting prisoners should go in pairs and be armed only with Tasers, mace and batons, not loaded firearms.
Fulton judges plant to meet with other courthouse officials to discuss security procedures this week, said Superior Court Judge Stephanie Manis. "The court is going to look at all these issues including whether deputies should have guns when they are with prisoners," Manis said.
Former Chief Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Long said the court has had reports on security shortcomings from experts in past years. Some of the recommendations had been implemented but others were deemed too expensive, she said.
Other counties have different policies dealing with prisoner security. In Cobb County, for instance, two unarmed sheriff's deputies escort defendants into court and sit nearby, while an armed deputy watches from across the room.
Some sheriff's departments put a belt under a defendant's civilian clothes that can deliver an electric charge by remote control, said Dale Mann, director of the Georgia Public Safety Training Center.
Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill said his office uses the belts and leg irons to control potentially violent prisoners.
"Any time we've got an inmate we think is a problem, all a deputy has to do is push a button and the electronic shock disables the inmate immediately," Hill said.
— Staff writers Rhonda Cook, Don Plummer, David Simpson, Pete Scott and Alan Judd contributed to this article.
As I understand it, while he's being processed, a prisoner is supposed to always be under enough physical restraint (handcuffs, shackles, or both) that a Taser, Mace, or a baton will be sufficient to control them no matter what they attempt to do.
Finally a judge speaking the truth to power in Atlanta ...
If you are talking about security tapes of the parking complex - There is no need - I just saw an interview with the police commander and he admits "no, they didn't search the parking complex, they thought he had left it" -
Which again just mind boggles me - All day we saw hundreds of cops basically looking to "get on camera" instead of doing their jobs! - How the hell don't you search the very complex this man was last seen in!! - Who knows, there could have been more victims within this complex.
Police screw things up and then go on TV insisting on what a "great job they did" - It really makes you wonder about the whole judicial system when it is this quality of people (who will basically lie instead of being up front about a screw up) - These are the same people we are all trusting with evidence, etc -
Yet they will spin and lie as quickly as dropping a dime if they think it will cover their as$es -
I blame feminism and political correctness for throwing common sense out the window.
Finally, some sanity in the discussion.
No, you said the judge was responsible for his own death. That's what got you flamed.
Neil Boortz must be going wild- he's always talking about the way Atlanta is run.
If I heard Freeman say ONE more time how he'd only been on the job a couple of months I thought I'd have to buy a new tv. These men are grown-ups, it's time the citizens of Atlanta hold them to account.
No he is actually right. You do not go into close quarters with a weapon, the prisoner may be well capable of taking it away. (This guy was a martial arts expert as well as being in excellent shape and in his prime.)
(1) No weapons when transporting to the courtroom,
(2) not alone, but with backup officers, also not armed
(3) series of restraints never off
(4)physical capabilities of a GI
(5) In the courtroom, armed deputy at sufficient distance to draw his weapon before the prisoner can escape of endanger others.
As far as second guessing, bring it on. When Lockheed Martin employees screwed up and dropped a 10 million dollar satellite while picking it up, heads rolled. This should happen here as well.
Plain and simple rules of conduct, outlining the procedures that shall be adhered to by all persons, as pertaining to the transportation and handling of prisoners, needs to be developed and instituted.
No police officer, anywhere in this country arrests a simple, non-violent, drunken driver without handcuffing him/her, behind their back, prior to transporting.
...faulty security.
GEE, ya think? (directed at the article, not the poster)
This only makes common sense ... but unmentioned in this article is the fact that the law requires that the perp cannot be brought into the courtroom wearing handcuffs because this would not be fair to the perp. The law, obviously, is an ass.
No, we need to see the security tapes from the courthouse and holding area. Or is security so lax that they don't even have THAT much of a workable system?
So, the good people of Atlanta should wait 10 years or more until this POS is dead before they make any changes?
Oh, yeat, great idea. Let's make sure some more people get killed./sarcasm off.
Never cover up this kind of crap for any reason. these people are a joke. Leaving off restraints, one deputy( never mind she was a small female, one deputy is stupid even if the deputy was huge)armed, all of these are stupidity at its finest and I will agree with the guy who said the judge helped cause this and helped bring on his own death. The judge could have stood up to this kind of PC BS and demanded that prisoners be shackled (dangerous ones) when brought into the court room.
It all adds up to incompetence of the highest order and I haven't even started on how stupid they were after the prisoner escaped!
Wow, 20 posts go by before you pointed this out.
Now that's just crazy right there.
There are all kinds of reasons that Police Men were once called that -- and all weighed two-hundred pounds and were six-feet tall.
And this assinine bloody atrocity illustrates only one of them.
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