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Thread: Nicholas Jason Bryant - Georgia

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    Nicholas Jason Bryant - Georgia




    Summary of Offense:

    Nicholas Jason Bryant sentenced to death on December 14, 2007 for a double murder in May 2004--the 15th consecutive time a jury in Douglas County sentenced someone to death when requested to do so.

    Bryant killed Billy Joe Kilgore, 68, and Marie Richards, 36, during a robbery, Douglas County District Attorney David McDade said. Bryant shot both victims in the back of the head with a .44-caliber handgun, the prosecutor said.

    "I'm mighty proud of Douglas County jurors," McDade said. "It's the 15th time in a row they've returned a death verdict when we've sought one. We've got the death penalty every time we sought it."

    Bryant, while out on parole for a prior burglary conviction, killed Kilgore and Richards on May 21, 2004, and then fled to North Carolina, where he was arrested after a standoff with authorities, McDade said.

    Josh Moore, one of Bryant's lawyers, said the case is far from over. An appeal will be filed asking for a new trial, he said.

    Part of the record in the case, developed before the trial, shows "that David McDade is completely out of step with the rest of this state and has sought the death penalty five times more often than the average prosecutor in Georgia," Moore said.

    "I personally believe we have seen signs that the Georgia Supreme Court may be growing weary of Mr. McDade's over zealousness," Moore said.

  2. #2
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    Gwinnett judge to hear Ga. Supreme Court case

    Gwinnett Superior Court Judge Billy Ray will fulfill a dream Monday, when he hears oral arguments as a member of the Georgia Supreme Court.

    Ray was chosen to sit in on an appeal of Douglas County death penalty case in place of Justice David Nahmias.

    According to the court’s public information officer Jane Hansen, Nahmias recuses himself from any case involving the King and Spalding law firm where his wife works.

    Ray, a former state senator who was on the short list for the Supreme Court in 2009, when Nahmias was named, said he has been studying the case file.

    “I’m excited about the process,” he said, adding that he does not know if he will be a part of writing an opinion. “I’ll probably do a lot of listening.”

    Despite the Grayson man’s ambitions to eventually become a permanent part of the state’s highest court, Ray said he is taking the experience one step at a time.

    “I’m very happy and honored that I get to do this,” he said. “Right now, I’m taking it for what it is, a one-time assignment, and I’m going to enjoy it.”

    http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/loc...113054299.html

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Condemned man asks Ga. court to overturn sentence

    A condemned Georgia man is asking the state's top court to overturn his death sentence.

    Nicholas Jason Bryant's attorneys are set to ask the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday to vacate the death sentence he got for the May 2004 killing of 36-year-old Marie Richards. Authorities say he shot and killed Richards and 68-year-old Billy Joe Kilgore after an argument involving a drug deal.

    Bryant claims the sentence is disproportionate to the penalty sought in similar cases throughout Georgia involving shootings during a drug transaction.

    But prosecutors sought to dispel the defense's accusations in a 280-page brief. They urge the court to deny his challenge and affirm the death sentence.

    http://www.macon.com/2011/02/07/1441...#ixzz1DHS57wiV

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    S10P1689. BRYANT v. THE STATE

    Edited:

    Georgia Supreme Court reverses two death sentences

    The Georgia Supreme Court on Friday reversed 2 death sentences, one imposed against a Clayton County man who killed his neighbor and another involving two killings in Douglas County.

    In the Douglas County case, the court upheld the murder convictions but threw out the death sentence imposed against Nicholas Jason Bryant. During a May 2004 robbery, Bryant killed Billy Joe Kilgore, 68, and Marie Richards, 36, with gunshots to their heads. The jury sentenced Bryant to death for killing Richards, not Kilgore.

    In Friday's ruling, written by Justice Harold Melton, the court found that the trial judge allowed the state to introduce unconstitutional victim-impact testimony in the sentencing phase. At the 2007 trial, Richards' sister gave "inflammatory" testimony such as how Bryant had shown he could not be a good inmate, Melton wrote. He added that the testimony "resembled a closing argument for the state more than a victim-impact statement."

    (Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Two murder cases in court this week

    [Edit]

    In addition to those cases that are awaiting trial, Nicholas Bryant is scheduled to appear for a motion hearing on May 29 before [Judge David] Emerson. Bryant was found guilty in December 2007 on charges of armed robbery and two counts of murder for the May 21, 2004, shooting deaths in Douglas County of Billy Joe Kilgore, 68, of Paulding County, and Marie Richards, 36, of Douglasville. He was originally sentenced to death.

    But now, Bryant is awaiting a new sentencing hearing after the Georgia Supreme Court overturned the death sentence on March 18, 2011, saying said the trial court “erred in allowing the State to introduce unconstitutional victim impact testimony” in the sentencing phase. The decision effectively sent the case back to the lower court for a new sentencing trial.

    http://www.douglascountysentinel.com...7a43b2370.html

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    Last edited by aljazres; 09-29-2018 at 03:49 AM.

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