When Brian Nichols was brought into an Atlanta court on 11 March for a retrial on a rape case, a single guard -- a five-foot-two 51-year-old grandmother -- escorted him. Although Deputy Cynthia Ann Hall was a veteran with plenty of training, Nichols overpowered and beat her by sheer size and weight. He then took her gun and escaped. Nichols killed court reporter Julie Ann Brandau and Judge Rowland Barnes as well as Sheriff's Deputy Sgt. Hoyt Teasley on his way out of the courthouse. After carjacking several vehicles, Nichols pistol-whipped a reporter and stole his jacket. He then killed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent David Wilhelm and took his gun, badge and truck. Nichols finally surrendered after terrorising a woman named Ashley Smith in her apartment, while she talked him into giving up.

Why was Nichols left wearing no restraints, alone with only one guard whom he could obviously overpower? It is thought that the sight of a defendant in handcuffs, surrounded by guards, might unduly influence juries. In most cases when a juror spots a defendant in cuffs and escorted by police, the defense usually moves for a mistrial on the spot. Aren't the jurors supposed to know he's the defendant in the case? Is the fact that he probably just came from a holding cell -- as Nichols had -- supposed to be a secret? Would it have been too politically incorrect to suggest that Deputy Hall might want a partner just this one time -- maybe a six-foot weightlifter with a black belt in Judo and a toothache to put him in the proper mood?

Nichols was not going before the court for running over a traffic cone or tearing the tag off his mattress (you know, the one that says DO NOT REMOVE UNDER PENALTY OF LAW). He was charged with rape, aggravated sodomy, false imprisonment, aggravated assault with intent to rape, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and burglary. He assaulted his former girlfriend, tying her up in her own home and repeatedly violating her over the course of several days. Two days before his escape, two shivs (makeshift weapons) were removed from his shoes upon his arrival at court -- hinges sharpened into rudimentary knives. What were they there for, balance? Common sense should have told the court personnel that a single guard, older and shorter, would not be enough to guard a potentially violent prisoner without handcuffs or a ready weapon. Political correctness gone amuck allowed Nichols to beat up Deputy Hall and the reporter. Political correctness allowed him to kill Brandau, Judge Barnes and Deputy Sgt. Teasley.

When we allow political correctness to overrule our common sense, we throw away millions of years of instinct that kept our ancestors alive and kicking. Every person who looked up at Nichols, then down at Hall, and shrugged off that little voice asking, "isn't this a bad idea?" allowed Liberal indoctrination to win over his or her own better judgment, with tragic results. The problem is not that common sense is uncommon, but that we so rarely listen to it.

Imagine the huge Liberal outcry that would have gone up had Judge Barnes, who clearly saw that Nichols might pose a threat, ordered extra escorts or restraints. (He did request extra officers in the courtroom, but not the holding area.) The media would have portrayed him as a stereotypical "redneck" judge, antithetical to both blacks and women. Barnes would have been excoriated as being "afraid" of Nichols (whom the media would have transformed into a gentle, misunderstood giant, like Michael Clarke Duncan playing John Coffey in The Green Mile), or at least trying to influence the jury by making him look dangerous. "Barnes Says Women Guards Can't Cut It," the headlines would have screamed. NOW would have joined forces with exploitive agitators like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to stage protests in the street outside the courthouse. Barnes's career would probably have been over.

But at least he'd be alive to enjoy his retirement, as would Julie Ann Brandau, Hoyt Teasley and David Wilhelm.