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http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metr...26nichols.html

Judges maintain little work done on courthouse security

By RHONDA COOK, BETH WARREN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/26/05

Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr. walked from a first-floor public hallway at the downtown county courthouse into a restricted area leading to his colleagues' offices.

After passing a desk where an unarmed civilian security officer sat, Bedford and a visitor approached Courtroom 1C from the back. The door was unlocked.

"Look at the first floor," the frustrated judge said as he opened the door and looked over his shoulders to the area he had just passed. "It's wide open."

It was through a similar unlocked door on March 11 that authorities say Brian Nichols entered Judge Rowland Barnes' courtroom and fatally shot him and his court reporter, Julie Ann Brandau.

Since that time Bedford and others, including a security commission formed by Sheriff Myron Freeman, say little has changed to make the courthouse safe.

But Sheriff's Maj. Antonio Johnson, who has been in charge of courthouse security since last month, said there have been improvements in security in the six months since the killings, which included the deaths of a deputy sheriff and later a U.S. Customs agent.

"They [judges] have a right to have concerns, and I'm trying to make sure their concerns are not overlooked," Johnson said. "I'm going to do everything I can" to make the building secure.

Progress claimed

Bedford said judges have been lobbying the Sheriff's Department and county for more than a year to install a locked door leading to the judges' offices, where magistrates and one Superior Court judge work.

"We've been told that's in the works," Bedford said.

Johnson and county officials say Fulton is spending $750,000 to improve security, and much is in the works, including the installation of cameras and more secure doors, and retraining of deputies.

According to Johnson, courtrooms on each floor have been wired to provide electricity to surveillance cameras that are being installed, although only cameras on the first floor are working. Camera connections remain to be completed in 12 courtrooms.

The cameras would transmit images to a larger control room, which would replace the current station. Deputies also will have larger monitors to watch courthouse activity.

Johnson said 25 of the 63 doors to inmate cells in the courthouse have been retrofitted with trap doors so deputies can handcuff inmates without coming in contact with them. A deputy was removing Nichols' handcuffs when he allegedly overpowered her, got her gun and began his shooting spree.

Johnson said three steel doors are removed each day and sent out to have slots cut into them. He said work on all of the doors should be completed in October.

He said Bedford's concerns about open areas leading to some first-floor judges' chambers will be addressed as soon as the Atlanta Fire Department approves adding a wall and locked door to an area that is now a fire escape route.

X-ray machines at the courthouse's two main entrances have been replaced with new technology and duress buttons for judges and court staff have been "revamped . . . and are all operational," Johnson said. Exit doors leading from the courthouse on the Pryor Street side of the judicial complex have been reinforced.

Freeman said he routinely will rotate deputies from posts throughout the courthouse to keep them from becoming complacent. He was referring to concerns that deputies were following orders from judges instead of their superiors.

"When I hear a judge tell me 'my deputy' that tells me I have a problem," Freeman said. "The Secret Service always rotates staff . . . so you don't get so familiar, so you don't get involved. You've got to be able to do your job and do it effectively and efficiently. Sometimes you can't do your job well if you're too emotionally involved."

State Court Judge Henry Newkirk, a member of Freeman's task force, said he has noticed increased security in the parking area — a new fence has been installed for judges — and inside the courthouse.

"I feel very safe coming in the courthouse," Newkirk said. "I think there's a very good presence of deputy sheriffs within the courthouse. There's always room for improvement, and I hope things continue to progress."Infighting blamed

Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison, who serves on the subcommittee that reviewed three previous security audits of courtroom security as well as requests for repairs, said he's not sure who is right.

"I would have to defer to the judges on the commission and the people who work inside the Fulton County Courthouse day in and day out," Garrison said. "They are the ones telling us, 'No, these things are not done.' "

Atlanta police Chief Richard Pennington, who heads the task force's subcommittee assigned to building security and repairs, has said repeatedly that courthouse safety has been compromised by bureaucratic power struggles and communication problems between the judges, the Sheriff's Department and the county's General Services Department, which maintains the building and is responsible for seeing that repairs are done.

But Friday, a spokeswoman for Pennington said the chief was briefed several days ago on the status of work and was told most of the problems had been fixed.

Johnson, who replaced Maj. Orlando Whitehead as head of security after Freeman forced Whitehead to retire, contended the Sheriff's Department would make sure improvements are made.

"We're going to work with everybody," Johnson said. "My job is to get the job done. Unfortunately, some things take a while."

Courtroom 1C, which Judge Bedford found unlocked, is the same courtroom where Nichols' pretrial hearings are held. He has pleaded not guilty to charges he murdered Barnes, Brandau, Deputy Hoyt Teasley and customs agent David Wilhelm. He could be sentenced to die if he is convicted of any of the four killings.

For Bedford, who lost a close friend in the courthouse shootings, the slow delay in improvements is worrisome.

"I just have an overwhelming sense of sadness," Bedford said Friday as he pointed to a picture of Barnes on his desk. "We're just trying to prevent it from happening again."