Fourteen years ago, on March 11, 2005, a suspect on trial for rape overpowered and beat Fulton County Sheriff’s Deputy Cynthia Hall, escaped from her custody and entered a courtroom.
There he killed Judge Rowland Barnes and court reporter Julie Ann Brandau.
He then ran out of the Fulton County Courthouse and encountered Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Hoyt Teasley on the street. He shot and killed Teasley, escaped and later killed off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent David Wilhelm.
In the years since, local governments and the state have promised major improvements in the security of Georgia courthouses.
One of the people most closely involved in that is Alcovy Circuit Superior Court Judge Samuel Ozburn (the Alcovy Circuit covers Newton and Walton counties).
