Brian G. Nichols was found guilty of murdering four people in 2005 in a fatal March shooting spree that began in an Atlanta courthouse.

On Monday, the jurors will begin hearing evidence in the sentencing phase of the trial. After rejecting the claim that the culprit was insane when he committed the murders, they will decide if Nichols should receive the capital punishment or be sentenced to life in prison.

On March 11, 2005, Nichols, 36, stole a deputy’s gun and shot dead four people. The victims of the rampage are Judge Rowland Barnes of Superior Court; his stenographer, Julie Ann Brandau; a court reporter and Hoyt Teasley, a deputy. Afterward, he murdered David Wilhelm, a customs agent, and took a woman hostage. Another police officer suffered severe brain damage.

Nichols’s defense attorney couldn’t contest the murders but tried to convince the jurors that he was not guilty on the basis of insanity. However, after 12 hours of legal deliberation, Nichols, a former UNIX systems administrator who earned annually $80,000, was found guilty on all 54 counts against him, including felony murder, battery, escape, assault, kidnapping and armed robbery.

Prosecutors expected this verdict for a long time "It didn't have anything to do with insanity or delusion," said prosecutor Clint Rucker told jurors. "The defendant was angry, and he was frustrated. He is cold-blooded. He is vicious. He is remorseless. And he is extremely, extremely dangerous."