Original post:

A defendant on trial for rape in Atlanta, Brian Nichols, stole a sheriff's gun and shot and killed the Judge and court reporter. He then kept shooting, left the Fulton County courthouse, mugged a reporter, hijacked his car, and is on the loose.

More news articles: here and here.

Did Nichols get the idea from the Lefkow murders? Last week in Cortez, Colorado, a divorce attorney was gunned down and killed by his client's soon to be ex husband. Are grudge killings on the rise or are these separate acts of desperate people with no other connection between them?

Update: I put my thoughts over at 5280 earlier this afternoon on when writing about the three sets of killings:

There are serious safety issues that need to be addressed. It would be helpful to see some statistics of such occurrences over a period of time. Solutions should not rushed and we should not create a one-size-fits-all response.

There are clear differences in these three killings. One occurred in a judge’s home. The courtroom killer didn’t bring a weapon into the courthouse, he reached over and took the sheriff’s deputy’s weapon. And the attorney’s killing took place in his law office. It seems to me that each of these occurrences present different risks and warrant different corrective measures.

Denver Federal Judge Kohn Kane was interviewed by 9News on the Lefkow killings. I agree with him.

"All the security in the world isn't going to help you," Kane says. "If somebody wants to get you, they can. And if that's going to affect you, you need to find another line of work."

Update: I switched back to Hardball. Chris Matthews was interviewing Congressman John Conyers. Conyers first reaction was to blame Bush's budget. I hate the budget as much as anyone, but that was unnecesary. This isn't about politics, it's about safety. Conyers said we have to add more money for federal judge threat analysis. Even though, as he acknowledged, federal judges feel safe in their courtrooms. The federal marshals' service does a great job. And their guns are never visible in court.

Then Rep. Conyers said you can't get a cell phone into federal courthouses today. That's just not true. In Denver, we bring cell phones into federal courtrooms every day. We just have to turn them off before entering. It's only cameras (including those on cell phones and pdas) and recording devices that are not allowed. So, there is no uniformity on this as Congressman Conyers suggested.

Matthews just recited the details of the suspect's rape for the 4th time in his show--and then went to former cop Bo Dietel. I changed channels again.

Update: CNN just interviewed the defense attorney. He said the first trial was 8 to 5 for acquital (13 jurors in Georgia?) but that the prosecutors were filling in the holes this time around and presenting a "more muscular" case. He said Nichols is very smart. Judge Barnes had told them yesterday he was going to ask for extra security --apparently as a result of the shanks being found in Nichols' shoes. But this morning, there was only one female deputy in the courtroom. The defense attorney also said Nichols is no longer his client after today.

Update: Why isn't anyone speculating he killed himself? He has no money for gas or food and there have been no other robberies reported that fit.