How much will Nichols cost Georgia taxpayers now?

[SoCalDem]

4 productive, taxpaying citizens are dead, and lawsuits that will result will cost the state millions. Tons of overtime in catching this lunatic have been spent.

I doubt that Georgia is rolling in dough. The man who spoke at the news conference announced they would have a "task force" set up to "study" what security measures they need. He "mentioned" several times about how he's only been on the job for a few months, so apparently there will be lots of blame-shifting going on.

Isn't it amazing how the lack of a few simple security measures has cost everyone so much. No amount of compensation will "help" the families of the dead..

NOW, after the fact, no amount of money will be spared to make sure he gets "a fair trial", and there will be millions spent studying what went wrong.

This is the sad thing about our justice system. The "squeaky wheels" always get ALL the oil. Justice for ordinary people is denied, delayed and almost impossible to achieve, and yet the system will bend over backwards for the worst of us.. Charles manson cost California MILLIONS (and is still costing us), yet there's no money for schools, or healthcare or much of anything these days.

It's really sad when the dregs of society cost us all so much, and contribute nothing good :(

[MissWaverly]

1. thanks for this

was roasted on the other thread on Nichols, it's refreshing that someone speaks up like you do.

[pretzel4gore]

2. dregs of society?

why, praytell, does a society have dregs? a priest i knew years ago told me a remarkable story: as a young novice he was sent to japan by the Jesuits to learn language etc....travelling alone, he went to a huge japanese city and was waiting at central train station to be picked up by his contacts. during the hullabaloo of greetings etc he was whisked away to the house where he was to spend next few years. They somehow left Bill's suitcase, actually a small trunk, containing all his stuff...needless to say, it was a disaster, though Bill kept it private, not wanting to upset his hosts, who would certainly turn japan upside down trying to find the trunk (he thought)! So bill, a very devout christian, just swallowed the loss best he could. four days later, a trip took him to the train station, and there, sitting all by itself was his trunk! Now if you know anything about the Japs, and had you read about them, you'd know they have just as much avarice, greed, cruelty and so on as anyone else...yet a trunk containing (in the 60's japan was still very poor) great wealth was left alone, even by the poorly paid sweepers etc...
maybe the US was stolen from its rightful owners(?)...maybe the US was built by people who've never been paid properly(?)...maybe the 'squeaky wheel' is just an extension of national values. maybe geebush and nichols between them really do represent the USA as it really is(?)
(i do want to commend you on taking a stance that may will be greeted with anger on a lib/left site like DU..,..but again, for every nichols that comes to national attention, vast numbers just disappear, having never had a chance, and having too much integrity to act out their self destructive rage)

[Tomee450]

3. What do you mean?

Are you implying that we should have vigilante justice in this country? Should we return to lynching? No matter how bad a person appears to be, he is entitled to trial by jury. We are supposed to be a civilized society.

[SoCalDem]

4. Alas, I have no easy answer.. Just wondering why some people

go SO wrong, and why society as a whole suffers so much at the hands of so few :(

[SoCalDem]

5. and...

I would not consider it "vigilante justice" when someone is KNOWN to be the killer. When someone has committed a heinous crime, and its 100% proveable, there should be a better way to deal with it.

Case in point.. A friend of mine' son was murdered in cold blood //in broad daylight.. on his front porch...in front of his 4 & 7 yr old.. by his father-in-law..

There was NO dispute that he did it, and yet the state of California spent a TON of money "defending" him.. My friend was forced to attend months of grueling court appearances, and yet was forced to reamin silent as she sat a few feet away from the man who murdered her son...and for what??

So a murderer could get a "fair trial"??

If there is ANY doubt, I say..go to the extreme to defend a person, but when there is NO doubt, why "waste" valuable resources ?

[Tomee450]

9. We are supposed to

be a civilized society. A person, no matter how abhorrent, is entitled to a trial by jury. We will be sliding downhill as a society if we start doing away with trial and just automatically executing people we think are guilty.

[SoCalDem]

10. "...we think are guilty..."

is the key phrase.. there is NO doubt in some cases.. Does it really matter "why", when somebody is SEEN killing innocent people?

I agree that when there is doubt, more care MUST be taken, but Dead is Dead, and nothing can bring that person back.. when it's a KNOWN fact that "A" killed "B", there needs to be a different way of handling things.. (I am NOT talking "self-defense" here..:)

[ulysses]

11. because that's the only way to maintain a reasonably fair

justice system. Sorry, SoCal.

[MissWaverly]

17. agree with you

I have been thinking about this, when I lived in Philly, I worked in a building that also housed the Public Defenders office, every day I rode to work with criminals who were on their way to see their attorneys. They openly bragged of what they had done and shown no remorse, their only concern was how much time they were going to have to do, which was all part of a haggling process. I thought then and still do, why do we have to have free attorneys for career criminals. If I need a legal service then as a average citizen, I must pay for what I need. I think that this would greatly improve our legal system if the accused had to pay for their defense.

[SoCalDem]

18. Were "your" bad guys handcuffed? The security, or lack of it

seems to be at the heart of what happened in Atlanta..

[MissWaverly]

19. No, and they were treated like game show contestants

I have been called to Jury several times, and I have seen individuals being tried for multiple murders that are not handcuffed,
I have heard that they don't like to do that because it negatively influences a jury.

[MissWaverly]

16. I think what is being lampooned is priorities

Of course, we are not proposing GITMO replace our legal system, but this country puts a lot of payola into glorifying violence, and into negative activities. What if we spent more money into trying to turn society into a productive one, where courtesy and honesty and positive values were held up. Other nations do not have our murder rates, our belief that violence is the way to solve problems, I am sure that you have seen the Miami CSI commercials where they show vignettes of the city while someone sings boom, boom, boom! There is a glorification of violence and the criminals which is wrong. There is a difference between trial by jury and the media circuses that have evolved of the O.J. Simpson case, Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson,
and Martha Stewart. These cases are no longer just a judicial process but have evolved into entertainment, I think that is sad and wrong. I also think that a fair trial does not require long trials that stretch on for years, if we cut the media, there would not be such an incentive to draw them out.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[hector459]

7. Nothing if they turn him over to the Feds.

I hope they do.

[SoCalDem]

8. Can they do that?? I heard that "killing a state judge" is not a federal

crime..:shrug:.. The customs agent is a federal employee though, so maybe they will try him for that murder and not for the others:shrug:

[Looking4Jessy]

12. Right. The ICE agent makes it federal.

Looks like the Feds will try him first.

[GraysonDave]

15. Feds won't allow any more screw ups

I'm glad he's out of Fulton County's hands. That is one incompetent bunch of folks.

[ulysses]

13. I'm a little scared at the idea

that justice should be tied to the amount of money spent and that we might suggest that due process be cut short one someone because it would be a "waste". More than a little scared, actually.

[GraysonDave]

14. Civilized society

It's a part of the cost of living in a civilized society.

He still deserves a "fair trial". After which he can rot in his cell.