Landmark Case of the Year: Brian Nichols

So, I know everyone is tired of hearing about Brian Nichols. I mean, what with all the tons of tax payer dollars spent on his trial. He might have single-handedly caused all of Georgia's economic troubles. I kid, I kid. But, seriously, it's been quite a landmark trial. Not only because of the time and expense it took to convict a man that was SO obviously guilty or the sentence, but the REASON he was sentenced that way.

In Georgia, there is only the possibility of death if the jury unanimously sentences the person that way. So, if only one person holds out, they live. One person. I thought this was the nation of majority rules. I guess Obama getting elected isn't really all that great because, apparently, in Georgia, the minority rules. OK, alright, at least in court cases anyway.

So, now everyone is up in arms to change this law. The way it goes now, a jury must unanimously choose death, or the judge can ONLY sentence the person to life or life without parole. In some states, the jury is mostly for assistance with sentencing, and the judge ultimately makes the decision. They want to make it similar to that here. The newest proposal would allow the judge to sentence death if at least 10 jurors vote for death. (Note that in this case, Nichols would still get life, as 3 jurors voted against death.)

Unfortunately, a similar bill has been shot down in the Georgia Senate more than once (passed in the Georgia House more than once) due to fears of making judges too powerful. But, now, some opponents are reconsidering things. There is even a proposal to allow for death even if 3 jurors vote against it.

I'm not really for or against the legislation, but I do think that when someone is a cold-blooded murderer who is blatantly and completely guilty of killing not just 1 but 4 innocent people, he deserves to die. And, while we have those pesky cruel and unusual punishment laws, he sure as hell deserves punishment as cruel as you can come up with.

And, for the people who held out, refusing to even hear the facts, especially the one who thought listening to music was more important than deliberation ("Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said jurors had told him the three holdouts refused to deliberate and were adamantly against the death penalty. One of the three, he said, was listening to headphones during the closed-door deliberations."), I say, you're a sack of shit who doesn't deserve much more than Nichols. Sure, jury duty sucks balls. But, you are there to do a job, and if you aren't going to do it you're just a good old fashioned son-of-a-bitch. YOU single-handedly let a convicted rampage murderer who escaped from custody before go back to jail. So he can escape again. Smooth move there, Ex-lax. I sure as hell hope he comes for you and not me when he escapes.