Juror on Brian Nichols' Rape Trial Speaks Out

This is a partial transcript from "On the Record," March 15, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Our next guest was a juror on Brian Nichols' (search) rape trial. James Bailey joins us in New York. Welcome, James.

JAMES BAILEY, NICHOLS RAPE TRIAL JUROR: Thank you, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: James, how many days were you sitting as a juror before the shooting occurred? How many days did you guys sit?

BAILEY: Monday was jury selection process (search). And then Tuesday through Thursday, until the final day of Friday morning, when we came up the court steps.

VAN SUSTEREN: What was your impression of Mr. Nichols during the course of that week?

BAILEY: From the start, we actually thought he was part of the legal team on Monday because he was interviewing each juror and — with Mr. Hazen and taking notes, and they were having conversations back and forth. And he was very direct and keeping an eye on everyone’s possible juror’s face to see the reactions.

VAN SUSTEREN: Was there ever any time — I mean, sometimes defendants will stare down jurors, stare down witnesses. Anything like that in the courtroom with him?

BAILEY: From the first day on, every time that I looked up from where I was sitting in the jury box, every time his eyes met with mine, it was very nerve-wracking. I tried to keep my eyes on the person that was testifying at the moment.

VAN SUSTEREN: Was he — was he — did it seem like it was an intimidating look, or was it just that you were afraid of him because of the charges?

BAILEY: No, it was more of — I guess because there was a hung jury the week before, he knew that he had to rely on the jury to see if he could have it happen again. So he would stare at each one of us, looking for our reactions. There were smirks during the case that he made and slight smiles when people were testifying, almost like it was he couldn’t believe it was happening to him, like it was a joke. But he was trying to — it seemed like he was trying to intimidate the jury, as well.

VAN SUSTEREN: Where were you when you first heard there was a shooting?

BAILEY: I was coming up the court steps. I was — I usually got there a little bit earlier, but that day I was a few minutes late. And a flood of people were coming out — I made it into the door, then everybody came out of the courthouse and running down toward, and everybody was saying, “Leave, Leave.” So we actually — we stood outside on the steps, and then we finally found out what happened. And we couldn’t believe it was our judge.

VAN SUSTEREN: And in terms of — how did you actually hear it was your defendant, as well?

BAILEY: Well, we didn’t hear it was Mr. Nichols at first. We asked around and we found out that it was Judge Barnes, which was one of the nicest judges I’ve ever encountered. And then after that, we put two and two together that it was Mr. Nichols because — judging by the description. They were searching the entire area. It was pretty intense with the police force and everything going on around the courthouse.

VAN SUSTEREN: James, you didn’t get a chance to deliberate. Unfortunately, the case never got that far. But were you — what did you think about the case in terms of whether he was guilty of the rape or not, as you were listening those days?

BAILEY: As I was listening for the few days that we were on it, I knew he was — I had my own opinion that he was guilty, but I actually think that the defense was doing such a good job that after some comments made by some of the other juror members, that there was a possibility that he might get another hung jury. I went home that night, and I actually thought to myself, and I said to my wife, I said, you know, I know he’s guilty, but I need to wait until he takes the stand and just see if there’s some sort of way to persuade my judgment, just based on the way the defense attorney tore apart some of the police evidence that was given in the case.

VAN SUSTEREN: James, thank you for joining us.

BAILEY: My pleasure, Greta.

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