Rowland Barnes
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Rowland W. Barnes (b. April 25, 1940 – March 11, 2005) was a Fulton County, Georgia Superior Court Judge who oversaw the 2003 trial of hockey star Dany Heatley, who killed his teammate Dan Snyder in a car accident.
[edit] Education and employment
Barnes began his academic career at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania (class of 1962). He then graduated from Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia in 1972, and at the time of his death still held the title of adjunct professor at the University. He was named to the Superior Court bench in 1988, and had previously been a city court judge in Georgia.
[edit] Death
Barnes was shot and killed on March 11, 2005 in his courtroom. Brian Nichols has been charged in connection with the shooting. According to reports, Nichols wrestled a gun from a sheriff's deputy present and shot her along with Judge Barnes and his court reporter. Nichols was taken into custody at an apartment complex in Duluth, Georgia the next day.
In a painful twist of fate, Barnes' wife, Claudia, was working in the Fulton County Superior Court as a judicial assistant at the time of his murder.
