Search for New Nichols Judge Underway

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – The search has started for the next judge in the Brian Nichols case. Yesterday, Judge Hilton Fuller recused himself, amid mounting controversy over the case's cost, and recent comments printed in The New Yorker magazine.

Judge Quillian Baldwin, of the 6th Judicial Administrative District, is looking for Fuller's replacement. He's looking for an active judge, because of complaints that Fuller, a retired judge, wasn't accountable to the public.

But Baldwin says that will increase the caseload significantly for the whole circuit from which he ultimately picks Fuller's successor:

BALDWIN: What'll have to happen in the other judges in that circuit will have to take up the slack, they probably would have to get some senior judges in there to take up the slack, and we probably would have some other, active judges in the state that would be willing to come over and help when they have time available.

Baldwin has already sent inquiries to judges in the Cobb, DeKalb, and Gwinnett circuits, and expects to select someone by the end of next week.

Nichols is accused of killing three Fulton County Courthouse officials and a federal agent in 2005.