Judge Fuller On Brian Nichols - "Everybody In The World Knows He Did It"
Update Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 pm: Judge Fuller has stepped down from the Brian Nichols case, stating in his letter -
"Judicial impartiality, real and perceived, is a critical element of the trial process," Fuller wrote to Downs. "In light of recent media reports, I am no longer hopeful that I can provide a trial perceived to be fair to both the state and the accused."
This is a relatively rare stray from the topics of bankruptcy and financial matters, but a subject of interest to lawyers in Georgia.
Judge Hilton Fuller, the Judge in the Brian Nichols ("Courthouse Shooter") case, has essentially held up the case indefinitely and caused the state to allocate millions of dollars to his defense. This has led to accusations, motions, requests to recuse, motions to recuse, and arguments before the Georgia Supreme Court. There is plenty of commentary about all of that so I need not add to it here. Presumably, the theory is that Judge Fuller was going overboard to make sure there would be no grounds for an appellate court overturning the verdict. The Judge has continuously refused to withdraw from the case.
However, the case made a big turn this week when Judge Fuller was quoted in New Yorker Magazine as saying --
If the case ever gets to trial, the defense will offer an even more contentious argument: that Nichols, who has pled not guilty, acted out of a “delusional compulsion” (a version of the insanity defense allowed under Georgia law). “That’s their only defense, because everyone in the world knows he did it,” Judge Fuller told me.
See the AJC article discussing the quote here, which includes lawyers opining that the Judge violated the judicial canon of ethics. Page Pate, an Atlanta criminal defense lawyer, says the following on his blog -
I'm not saying he's wrong. No sane person doubts Nichols' guilt. But the real question is why in the world would he publicly say this when the case is still pending in his court? Why did he agree to an interview at all? Didn't he put a gag order on everyone involved in the case? Doesn't that also apply to him? I really don't get it. Maybe it's an intentional move to get off the case. But why not simply recuse himself without all the fuss and delay? As much as I would like to explain his comment, or offer some insight, I just don't get it.
Maybe Hilton Fuller made his gaffe with the New Yorker author that "accidentally" became public in order to justify recusing himself so as to avoid placing several of his fellow DeKalb County judges in a bad light. Members of the Georgia House leadership have been aware of Federal complaints describing Fuller's supervision of an unlicensed practitioner employed by DeKalb County who appeared in Fuller's courtroom.
Several of his brethren of the Stone Mountain Circuit had engaged in the same proscribed activity as Administrative (non-trial) judges. And all of the judges of the Stone Mountain Circuit had a duty under the Canons of Ethics of the Georgia Bar to "Assist in preventing unlicensed practice." It appears that none of them, even Carol Hunstein, the Chair of the committee that recommended ratification (by Administrative order nunc pro tunc nine months) of that non-statutory organization, took affirmative action to prevent unlicensed practice for that period of over 10 years.
Fuller was the ULP's supervisor for two years while serving as the Administrative Judge of the 4th Judicial Administrative District (the administrative arm of the Stone Mountain Circuit on which Fuller sat as a Superior Court Judge). When, after two Federal complaints, the county hired an attorney to prosecute, also supervised by Fuller, the Administrative Judge, DeKalb trial judges were reduced to merely violating Georgia's Code of Judicial Conduct (preventing public statements by members of court personnel that might affect the outcome of a case) for another 5 years.
The County admitted in their Answer to a Federal Complaint that its employee/prosecutor was not a member of the Georgia Bar. US District Court Judge Julie Carnes prevented the each complaint from reaching the merits.
Why was the case moved and where was is moved to?