Judge sentences courthouse shooter to life

A judge on Saturday sentenced the man who killed four people in a brazen courthouse escape to multiple life sentences with no chance of parole after a deadlocked jury failed to return a death sentence.

Brian Nichols, 37, was found guilty last month of murder and dozens of other counts for the March 2005 rampage that started in a downtown courthouse, led to an Atlanta neighborhood and ended with his capture the next day in a suburban county. He will likely die in prison after Superior Court Judge James Bodiford handed down the maximum sentence on each charge.

"If there was any more I could give you, I would," the judge said.

Nichols was spared capital punishment when the jury failed to reach a unanimous decision to condemn him to death row for the murders of a judge, a court reporter, a deputy and a federal agent.

After four days and more than 30 hours of deliberations, the jury was deadlocked at 9-3, with nine in favor of the death penalty and three voting for life without parole.

Nichols, who argued he was mentally insane when he carried out the killings, spoke for the first time in court on Saturday.

Man gets first NH death sentence in 49 years

A jury has issued New Hampshire's first death sentence in nearly a half-century to a man who fatally shot a police officer two years ago.

Twenty-eight year-old Michael Addison had no reaction as the Hillsborough County Superior Court jury announced its verdict after about 13 hours of deliberation.

The judge must impose the sentence and cannot change it.

New Hampshire hasn't executed anyone since 1939 and hasn't sentenced anyone to death since 1959.

Jurors unanimously agreed that Addison deserves to die for purposely shooting Officer Michael Briggs to avoid being arrested.