ATLANTA -- The judge in the Brian Nichols case gave the defense attorneys a major tongue-lashing Monday morning. The judge let them know he was stopping just short of calling them liars.

It wasn’t just a case of a judge being frustrated and scolding an attorney – it was much worse. The judge accused the defense of doing anything it could to stop the case.

“I don’t trust you anymore,” Judge James Bodiford told the defense Monday.

Bodiford ripped apart the defense attorneys – not their case but the attorneys themselves.

“You want to do anything to stop the case and you’ll do anything,” said Bodiford.

VIDEO: Judge Tells Nichols Defense: 'I Don't Trust You'

At the end of its sentencing case, the state discovered a snippet out of the 400 hours of Nichols’ jailhouse phone calls and threw it into the trial. In it, Nichols suggested he should have shot the district attorney after killing Judge Rowland Barnes in March 2005.

The defense asked for a mistrial, saying prosecutors lied about having just discovered the recording and they also claimed prosecutors then erased it off the evidence.

Allegations about lawyers don’t get worse, but Bodiford said he found, “Facts in the affidavit that are wrong. I’m a professional, so I’m not going to call them a lie. But they’re wrong,” he said.

The defense refused to admit it was wrong and said the court was too harsh, but the judge didn’t buy it.

“When you throw the bomb, you better make sure the bomb explodes. We know you’re a bomb-thrower. We better be looking out for the next bomb,” said Bodiford.

The judge added, “You think the state is the bad guy when the jury has found, no, it’s Mr. Nichols.”

Then everyone went home. One of the jurors is out sick and they hope to be back Tuesday to resume the sentencing phase.

Nichols was found guilty Nov. 7 of murdering a judge, a court reporter, a sheriff's deputy and a federal agent when he escaped from a 2005 rape trial in Atlanta. The jury is now hearing testimony about whether Nichols should receive a death sentence.