A couple of articles:
*From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: An article showing that Georgia
death penalty defenses are grossly under-funded compared to the exorbitant
costs spent by the prosecution.
*A report on an 800-mile anti-death penalty march from San Diego to
Sacramento

Brian Nichols' attorneys say they have no funds left
But prosecutors are expected to seek Oct. 2 trial anyway

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... nichols_09
17.html

By BETH WARREN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/17/07

Lawyers for accused Fulton County courthouse gunman Brian Nichols told a
judge during a pretrial hearing Monday that their funding has been cut off
and they don't see how they can be ready his Oct. 2 trial.

Lead attorney Henderson Hill said the defense team already has a $100,000
shortfall and has been told by the Georgia Public Defender Standards
Council, which funds indigent defense, not to expect any more money. State
legislators have passed a bill authorizing state funding for no more than
two defense attorneys in the Nichols case or other capital cases. Nichols'
team currently has three who are paid and one who is volunteering.
€ More Atlanta news

Hill said prosecutors continue to drive up the cost of the trial by
interviewing more witnesses, whom the defense must then interview.

"This is an extraordinary case that requires extraordinary resources," Hill
told the judge.

The March 2005 crime spree involves 11 crime scenes, four homicides ‹ plus
hostages in two counties ‹ and car jacking victims, Hill pointed out.

Prosecutors have 400 witnesses lined up, while Nichols' attorneys have
nearly 100. The case is further complicated by Nichols' attorneys' recent
motion that they plan to use a mental illness defense.

Hill said his North Carolina law firm has already kicked in $32,000.

Defense attorneys, who have already spent more than $1.2 million defending
Nichols, pointed to projections that prosecutors are expected to spend close
to $4 million. They also presented testimony that defending a similar
high-profile death penalty defendant, Eric Robert Rudolph, who bombed a
Birmingham abortion clinic and Centennial Olympic Park, cost $5.3 million.
Rudolph pleaded guilty to his crimes before trial.

Monday afternoon, prosecutors are expected to make their case for moving
ahead with the trial.


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metr ... 5walk.html
News | San Diego
March opposes death penalty
September 15, 2007

SAN DIEGO ­ Amnesty International and American Civil Liberties Union members
and others plan to start an 800-mile walk today from San Diego to Sacramento
to express their opposition to the death penalty.

The walk will start at the county Hall of Justice downtown at 9 a.m. with a
media briefing, a spokesman said. The walk will stop in 15 counties and end
at the state Capitol on Nov. 30.

The group hopes to encourage district attorneys not to seek the death
penalty, a spokesman said.