Court Killing Suspect Denied Bail

The suspect in a crime spree that left a judge and three others dead appeared before a magistrate judge Tuesday on a refiled rape charge, which is being used to hold him as he's investigated in a courthouse shooting rampage and the death of a federal agent as he eluded authorities.

The judge informed Brian Nichols that he was being charged, for a third time, with rape, and Assistant District Attorney Michele McCutcheon informed Cobb County Judge Frank Cox that the state will pursue four charges of murder against Nichols.

Nichols was held without bond and no future court hearings were set.

With his hands shackled at his waist and his ankles shackled together, Nichols only spoke once, when the judge asked him if he had any questions.

"Not at this time," he said.

Nineteen officers lined the walls of the cinder block room at the jail for the hearing.

Defense Attorney Chris Adams told reporters after the hearing "this is a time of grief and mourning" for the courthouse community.

Some residents are questioning how local law enforcement let Nichols elude their grasp for 26 hours in what is being called the largest manhunt in state history.

Nichols, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound former college linebacker, is accused of grabbing 51-year-old sheriff's deputy Cynthia Hall's gun in a courthouse and then fatally shooting a judge, a court reporter and a deputy.

Security cameras rolled as Nichols — who had been found in court earlier in the week with two homemade knives in his shoes — overpowered the 5-foot-tall Hall as she escorted him to his rape trial. But no one was monitoring the cameras, giving Nichols the time he needed to storm into the courtroom, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Acosta.

Local attorney Dennis Scheib said that he has warned Fulton County for years to hire more deputies.

"I've tried cases and we're in the middle of the trial and there's no deputies in there because they are so short-handed," Scheib told CBS News.

Authorities said Nichols escaped the courthouse in a Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority train. They said he took the train north to a pricey neighborhood where he allegedly gunned down a federal agent.

"I don't understand why they didn't have the MARTA staked out," said Maryanne Fry, a neighbor of slain immigration agent David Wilhelm. "I really wish they had."

As Nichols vanished from the courthouse, investigators focused on finding the car they believed he was in. Thirteen hours later, the car was found in the same parking garage where it was carjacked minutes after the shootings.

Once authorities realized Nichols was not in the hijacked car, they admitted they had few other leads as to where Nichols was hiding. The trail had abruptly gone cold.

Nichols was being retried for rape and other charges when he escaped. That case was declared a mistrial Monday at the request of Nichols' attorney, Friedly said. Nichols' first trial was a mistrial as well.

Nichols was only apprehended after he released a woman, Ashley Smith, whom he had held hostage for seven hours in her apartment. She immediately called 911 and Nichols surrendered peacefully Saturday to a SWAT team.

If it hadn't been for Smith, who gained Nichols' trust by bonding with him over discussions on family and God, there's no telling how long the rampage would have continued, reports CBS' Acosta.

Investigators' failure to properly search the parking garage where the supposed getaway car sat unnoticed for so long, and the decision not to search the commuter trains leaving the city's downtown, left some people scratching their heads.

Commuter Carla Hill said if MARTA police had been alerted someone might have spotted him. "Someone that dangerous, I would think all precautions would be taken," she said.

Hill questioned whether MARTA's numerous video surveillance cameras were working properly. "There should be some image of him because the cameras are everywhere," she said.

MARTA spokeswoman Jocelyn Baker said investigators are still reviewing surveillance videos for evidence that Nichols was on a commuter train.

Police Chief Richard Pennington said officers had no reason to order the trains to stop running because they had no reason to believe he was not in the stolen car.

The first indication that Nichols had indeed taken the train came 13 hours after the shootings.

Officers received a report of a couple assaulted near the train station at Lenox Square in north Atlanta by a man matching Nichols' description. The man had brandished a gun and demanded money or a vehicle before striking one of them in the head with the gun and fleeing.

A police report shows that Shelton Warren told investigators he was attacked in his apartment, about a half block from the home of Wilhelm, the federal agent, when he opened the door to let his girlfriend inside and discovered a man holding a gun on her. Both Warren and Iman Adan told investigators they believed it was Nichols.

Wilhelm, 40, was working on tile in his new five-bedroom house in the Lenox Square area late Friday when Nichols allegedly shot him. His body was found early Saturday. His blue pickup truck, pistol and badge had been taken.