Created: 2/8/2006 9:55:51 AM 
By HARRY R. WEBER Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA (AP) -- Lawyers for a man accused of killing four people in a shooting spree that started at a downtown courthouse asked a judge Tuesday to throw out the case because of how the grand jury that indicted the defendant was selected.
Brian Nichols' attorneys argued that Fulton County's reliance on a voter registration list as a primary source of names for jurors, rather than more up-to-date lists that contain current addresses, caused the panel that charged Nichols to be underrepresented by blacks and other minorities.
The lawyers said there has been a significant no-show rate in the level of responsiveness to jury summonses by persons called for jury duty in Fulton County, and that minorities and young people are disproportionately affected. Nichols is black.
The lawyers asked that the 54-count indictment against Nichols for the March 11, 2005, shootings be dismissed after an evidentiary hearing. They also want all further proceedings in the case suspended until the county's grand jury process is made constitutionally sound.
Prosecution spokesman Erik Friedly declined to comment on the defense motion, saying his office would respond in writing. Don Samuel, an Atlanta defense lawyer not involved in the Nichols case, said such motions have been made in other murder cases in Fulton County and have tended not to be successful.
"Generally speaking, it comes out against the defense," said Samuel, who has filed a similar motion in the case of a millionaire businessman accused of hiring a hit man to kill his wife.
Samuel said Fulton County has a "forced balancing" computer system that is designed to ensure that jury pools consist of a more equal share of whites and minorities. However, he said that system has raised questions.
A Nichols hearing, meanwhile, is scheduled for Wednesday to discuss another defense motion seeking to move the trial out of the Fulton County Courthouse, where the shooting spree started.
Prosecutors wrote in court papers Monday that Nichols' defense failed to come up with another site for the Oct. 3 trial to which both sides can agree. They say Nichols should be tried in the same courthouse because no suitable alternative has been found.
Nichols' defense has argued the trial should not be held in that courthouse complex because its hallways, parking lots and one of its courtrooms are considered a crime scene.
Nichols was in the courthouse facing retrial on rape charges when he is accused of overpowering a deputy, grabbing her gun and shooting the presiding judge and a court reporter.
Nichols also is accused of killing a sheriff's deputy who chased him outside the courthouse, and a federal agent at a home a few miles away. He surrendered the next day after allegedly taking a woman hostage in a suburban Atlanta apartment.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. For the last several months, both sides have discussed holding the trial at other court buildings in the county. Officials at the federal courthouse a few blocks away have refused to hold the trial there.
Other sites suggested -- including the City of Atlanta Traffic Court, the Charles Carnes State Court and the Union City Municipal Court -- could not be agreed on by both sides, prosecutors said in court papers.
Nichols' defense has not formally asked for the trial to be moved to another county.
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