Sooo many fatal mistakes here:
- They NEVER should have let a woman escort him in alone. They KNEW he was prone to violence, AND..... just a few days earlier, they found "sharp objects" hidden in his shoes!

- Nichols should have been brought into the courthouse handcuffed and shackled before the jury arrived, then they should have kept his feet shackeled (even to the table) with a front to the floor so that the jury doesn't see the shackles.

- The biggest baddest male should have escorted him.

- If you let ONE woman escort this former linebacker from Kutztown University, then DON'T put a gun on her that can be easily pulled out, then used to shoot her in the face, which Nichols did.

- When Nichols was captured, they should have SHOT HIM DEAD ON THE SPOT!!!

These 4 murdered victims are on the hands of those who want political correctness everywhere.

Common sense, which should beat out political correctness, would have saved the day here and prevented tragedy. Let's hope that common sense rules the day when the sentence for this maniac is handed down.

It has been reported that the judge requested tighter security around Nichols because they found the knife on him earlier in the week. I won't be surprised to see a lawsuit by the families of the victims if this turns out to be true.

It has also been reported that people on trial at that courthouse are not to be seen by the jury in handcuffs or the standard prison orange jumpsuit because it gives the appearance of guilt. How ridiculous is that? You're standing in a courtroom on charges of rape & sodomy. You've already got a question mark hanging over your head. Being handcuffed is not going to make a jury vote guilty. What an insult to the citizens who have sat on a jury to think that they don't have enough common sense to weigh the facts!

I agree, Mark. Common sense when out the window in this case. Prisoner's rights have become absurd, as proven in this case.

Michelle Malkin's observation of the fact that Nichols was being escorted by a small female officer after his capture, despite what caused his initial flight, shows that Common Sense is in serious danger of dying in America!

I'm afraid that I will follow the principle of Occam's Razor on this one. There is no grand conspiracy here. Although the pervasive PC attitudes that demand that common sense take a back seat sometimes probably had some impact in this incident, they were not the cause. Where do we look for that? No further than the criminal who took the gun, killed 4 people, and escaped to the Northern suburbs of Atlanta. He is the cause of this and he should be held responsible.

Any attempt to assign blame elsewhere is further evidence of the meme that says people like that criminal are somehow blameless for their behavior. Add to the situation the fact that police officers routinely become complacent in the presence of prisoners, add in a pile of budget cuts that reduce staffing, and the likelihood that the police department involved is being poorly managed (they made the decision about guards) and you have more than enough blame to go around.

I suggest that emotion is playing a part in hyperbolic rants and cries for "justice" and blaming everything on PC policies. Occam's Razor suggests otherwise.

Not quite scar.
I NEVER NEVER would have accepted a woman beside me in Nam.
In police work there are many jobs that they are very good at, and many they shouldnt be involved in. This attitude that women are the same as men in all walks of life is a LIE!. Four people lost their lives because this woman could not properly do the job assigned to her PERIOD!.

I sure dont want my wife to have my back in a barroom fight i want "Big Mikey" and let the honey go warm up the car before the cops come(sattire).

I agree that Nichols is solely responsible for his actions, but given the circumstances of the situation, policies regarding transport of prisoners to court will have to be thoroughly reviewed and changed in Atlanta. It will be necessary to look at each step along the way to see where the failures in the system occurred which helped put the whole tragedy into motion. Nichols was able to take advantage of the policies (no handcuffs/shackles,) and the lack of sufficient guards to carry out his plan. This doesn't take the guilt away from him, but merely points out that the circumstances worked in his favor, and that is what needs to be changed in order to protect everyone in the courthouse. You have to look at the whole picture in order to correct it.

If there was a communications breakdown in which the judge's concerns were not addressed, then that needs to be investigated. I don't think anybody is trying to take the blame off of Nichols, but are merely pointing out the flaws in our legal system which in turn endangers innocent people.

PC is deadly. I feel for the little lady, but the fact is that she’s a little lady.
It is not her fault she was overwhelmed. It is her fault for not wanting to face up to reality.
When she was sent to escort the prisoner she should have made an on the spot appraisal of the situation. Seeing that she was obviously under equipped to handle just this type of scenario, she should have demanded back up. Don’t tell me there were no officers available because as soon as the shots were fired the place was flooded with squad cars.
Complacency and arrogance on her part got people killed. Pc on the part of the system is at fault for creating this situation.
The odd part is that if she was able to hang on to her gun and kill him, she’d be up on charges for using deadly force on an unarmed man. What cha gonna do?

Why would you just have one guard escourting him? Wouldn't it make sense to have more than one (perhaps three maybe) since he was a martial arts expert. (can not find the link but heard it on the news).

I agree with Ex Marine. It seems that a lack of common sense resulted in this man (who is thoroughly evil) to take advangtage of the situation. Sorry...if this man is allowed to go handcuffed in court again (escourted by a lone small female guard) then the blood will be on their hands if this happens again.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

I've talked this 'round a lot of ladies I know today - and the universal opinion so far is that it was absurd to have a small female guarding this criminal.

We're paying a lot of lives in order to pretend that leftwing dellusions have merit.

This is such a horrible tragedy that could have been overted so easily, but i guesse we have gotten ourselves into a situation in which it takes something this horrible to (hopefully) wake us up.

Since a lot of people are quick to blame the female officer in this incident, I'd like to point out the disorganization of the entire police department in the aftermath of the shooting.

As reported on the news, an APB was put out after the shooting for a green Honda Accord. Thirteen hours later, and still no sign of Nichols in this car, they find the car in the parking deck where it was thought to be stolen from, leaving police with no apparent lead on Nichol's mode of transportation and prompting fears that he might have taken a hostage. The security tapes of Nichols (he was wearing a blazer he stole from the guy with the Honda) coming down the stairs of said parking deck weren't viewed until Saturday (per CNN.) Why weren't these reviewed Friday? He made his way via the MARTA subway on Saturday where he hurt a bystander. Why wasn't the entire MARTA system covered by police? Oh yeah. They were looking for the green Honda Accord.