This $2 million is a bad investment

For a mere $2 million dollars the state of Georgia could send, at $10,000 per year, 50 children to college for four years.
    With a $2 million head start we, in Morgan County, could build a pool with plenty of money left over for, say, programs like the Boys & Girls Club.
    For $2 million we could continue to fund our local hospital for two years, without placing a burden on our over–burdened taxpayers.
    For $2 million we could build a state–of–the–art library, help fund unfunded state mandates in education,  significantly reduce the property tax burdens or make a huge dent in the construction of a new detention center.
    Or we could fund the defense of a man who shot and killed four people in cold blood.
    For most of my life I have been an opponent of the death penalty. Times, and attitudes, change.
    Part of it is the job. Unfortunately I have seen in stark terms the deprivation one human being can inflict on another. Experience can be a cruel teacher. Experience has taught me this: there is evil in this world.
    There are people who through mental or genetic defect do not belong to walk among us. They are branded at birth, I believe, with a deficiency of concious that allows for extreme aberations of behavior.
    There is no right and wrong switch, no respect for human life or, for that matter, humanity.
    There is a cruel, psychotic madness that is never quenched, never quelled, never satisfied.
    I changed my thinking on the death penalty.
    I do respect the institution of law, however. I do believe everyone should get their day in court in a fair and timely manner.
    I do understand that our justice system is far from perfect and sometimes can be far from fair.
    I understand that innocent men and women go to jail. That, too, is criminal.
    But so is paying $2 million to defend Brian Nichols.
    Nichols was captured on videotape killing three Fulton County courthouse employees, including a judge. He shot and killed another man a day after the Fulton County spree.
    His guilt, frankly, has never been questioned, not even by his own defense team.
    The question of life or death drove the defense costs for Nichols into the stratosphere.
    Nichols went on his rampage while waiting trial on rape charges.
    Nichols is a bad man. Most likely he is insane.
    He’s not worth $2 million dollars.