New judge chosen in high-profile murder case

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A U.S. court has replaced a judge in the high-profile trial of a man accused of murdering four people in a rampage, after the previous judge told a magazine the defendant was guilty.

Judge Hilton Fuller recused himself from the case last week after the New Yorker magazine quoted him as saying the defense would argue that defendant Brian Nichols acted out of delusional compulsion or insanity.

"That's their only defense, because everyone in the world knows he did it," Fuller told the magazine.

Nichols is accused of overpowering a security guard at Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta in March, 2005, where he was being tried for rape. He allegedly took her gun and then entered the courtroom where he shot dead a judge and a court reporter in the presence of several witnesses.

He is also accused of killing a deputy sheriff outside the court and, in the manhunt that followed killing a federal agent, hijacking up to five cars and holding a woman hostage in her home north of Atlanta before giving himself up.

Jim Bodiford of Georgia's Cobb County was selected to take over the death penalty case.

Bodiford has "tried as many high profile cases as any judge in the state of Georgia. He is very qualified and will try the case in a fair and expeditious manner," said Cobb court administrator Skip Chesshire on Tuesday.

The case has stalled over funding for the defense team, leading several Georgia legislators to complain about the slowness of the trial. Legal observers told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper the case could resume in April or May.

(Editing by Tom Brown)