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Chalk this one up to political correctness run amock.
Nichols was in street clothes and unshackled. Just because that might prejudice a jury. Why can't the judge just say at the beginning of the trial that he's shackled because of the severity of the accusation?
I'm all for guaranteeing a fair trial. But today, it seems that to be considered "fair", it must be mistake-free and prejudiced in favor of the defendant.
I don't know about not having a woman guarding a dangerous male criminal. I wouldn't go that far. But if it turns out she's inexperienced and was the only one in the room with a gun, I'd say the courts were guilty of believing their own politically correct definitions. A man accused of what Brian Nichols was accused of must be considered dangerous.
(just to make it clear, I'm not referring to race in any way - political correctness in this case means assuming all criminals or all criminal defendants are just like the rest of us without any history of violence - even if that's just an accusation).
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