Friday, October 31, 4:16pm

Both sides have rested!!! The judge gave the jury off Monday and Tuesday.  They’ll be back Wednesday for closing arguments.

Friday, October 31, 2:58pm

We’ve learned that a grand jury has returned indictments against the five Fulton County inmates for beating up Willie Tiller, Jr.  All but one of them is on trial for murder.  Were they trying to send a message to other inmates not to snitch on them?  Who knows.

Friday, October 31, 1:57pm

By the way, the defense is not happy that the judge kicked Juror #5 off the trial.  Why?  When she was being questioned during jury selection, she said she might have a hard time sentencing someone to death.

Friday, October 31, 12:49pm

Now, it’s the battle of the dueling psychologists.  Dr. Mark Cunningham is on cross examination (again) from prosecutor Kellie Hill.  He was called as a ’sur-rebuttal’ witness for the defense.  He’s still not bending on his evaluation that Nichols was delusional when he broke free and killed Judge Barnes, court reporter Julie Brandau, Sgt. Hoyt Teasley and Customs Agent David Wilhelm.  Wilhelm’s widow, Candee, rolled her eyes when Dr. Cunningham said the reason Nichols’ story about the Wilhelm murder changed slightly, is that Nichols had had an ’exceedingly stressful day’ by the time he was re-captured.

Friday, October 31, 11:19am

The judge kicked Juror #5 off the jury.  He told her he’s not going to punish her for juror misconduct, but said she violated three rules. She didn’t send him a note to say her daughter had told her something she wasn’t supposed to hear.  Rather, she blabbed the rumor to other jurors.  And thirdly, she didn’t fess up to the judge that she had blabbed about something she shouldn’t have.  When the judge called the remaining 16 jurors back into the courtroom — just to keep them from getting any ideas that blabbing will get you sent home — he told them if it happens again, that juror would not only be kicked off the jury… he or she would be required to sit on the back pew of the courtroom to listen to the rest of the trial.

Friday, October 31, 9:45am

The judge just individually questioned jurors who might’ve heard Juror #5 say that her daughter heard on the news about Willie Tiller being beaten after testifying.  Turns out, only three jurors heard her say it.  Then the judge called Juror #5 herself into the courtroom to explain what she said.  He asked her if she thought she should have told HIM what she heard YESTERDAY.   She said, yes, she should have.  Now the judge is in a bench conference with the lawyers trying to decide what to do.

Friday, October 31, 9:30am

Happy Halloween!  Well, it seems more jurors heard about the state witness being beaten up.  Apparently yesterday morning, Juror #5 made a remark in the jury room — in the presence of other jurors — that her daughter had heard on the news about the beating.  Apparently five or six other jurors heard it before a juror told her “Shhhh.  I’m not supposed to hear that.”  That’s when the conversation ended.  As you may know, jurors have been instructed by the judge not to listen to or read any media coverage about this case.  They’re also not supposed to talk about the case — or anything related to it – among themselves, until it’s time to deliberate.

Thursday, October 30th, 4:59pm

The prosecution has no more rebuttal witnesses.  Now it’s the defense’s turn to call ’sur-rebuttal’ witnesses.  So they re-called Dr. Mark Cunningham, their forensic psychologist.  He’s saying that the reason Nichols told Ashley Smith “I’m the one who shot the judge” instead of “I’m the one who shot the slave master,” is that delusional disorders don’t make you split from reality.  (Dr. Phillips had just told the jury that remark is one of the ways you can tell Nichols was not insane.)

Thursday, October 30th, 3:53pm

I’m trying to get an update on Willie Tiller, the former cellmate of Nichols, who was beaten up at the Fulton County jail after testifying against Nichols.  Last we heard, he was still in the hospital at Grady.  His injuries are not life-threatening, but he did take quite a beating to his face and head.  Tiller said on the stand Tuesday that he’s been in and out of jails and prisons all his life.  He’s now serving time for armed robbery.  Still no good explanation about why he was taken back to the Fulton County jail after testifying.  Afterall, it’s such a high-profile case.  Why couldn’t they have taken him to Gwinnett or Cobb — anywhere but Fulton (or DeKalb, where Nichols is currently housed.)

Thursday, October 30th, 3:27pm

Defense attorney Henderson Hill asked the prosecution psychologist Dr. Phillips — what about all the remarks Nichols said while he was on the run about being at war with the criminal justice system?  Phillips said extreme beliefs may be annoying, but they don’t make you psychotic.  Hill asked him, what about the videotaped confession, where Nichols talks about feeling like a slave rebelling?  Phillips said that’s just it — Nichols said he felt LIKE a slave. He said people who have a delusion don’t talk about it at arm’s length.

Then he said something we haven’t heard until now.  He said he learned from the notes taken by defense psychologist Mark Cunningham, that Nichols told Cunningham he initially went to Judge Barnes’ courtroom after the escape so that he could retrive the ice cooler, the marijuana and other evidence related to the rape trial.  Phillips said, “Where does that story come from?”

In case I haven’t mentioned this, Dr. Phillips is being paid $575 an hour!  (He got $475 an hour for work he did to come to his conclusion.)  And you thought the DEFENSE psychologist was being paid well at $250 an hour!  Anyway, prosecutor Kellie Hill just began her re-direct examination of Dr. Phillips.  She said she’d try to make it quick — that while they all appreciate his testimony, they can’t afford much more of it.  The courtroom errupted in laughter.