ATLANTA -- A Fulton County special grand jury has indicted Brian Nichols on murder charges in connection with the courthouse shooting rampage two months ago, authorities said Thursday.

The panel met behind closed doors inside the district attorney's office, which is five floors below the courtroom where police say Nichols fatally shot a judge and a court report on March 11.

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Grand jurors handed down a 54-count indictment against Nichols, that includes charges of murder, kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault on a police officer, battery, kidnapping, theft, carjacking and escape from authorities.

After the indictment was announced, District Attorney Paul Howard said he plans to seek the death penalty.

A defense motion seeking to record the proceedings and allow lawyers to question potential grand jurors about their exposure to media coverage of the shootings would have to be decided first, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An attorney for Nichols, 33, was allowed to sit in on the questioning but he left about 1:30 p.m. He declined to comment about the session as he left.

On March 11, a Superior Court judge and his court reporter were killed at the Fulton County Courthouse and a sheriff's deputy was fatally shot outside. A federal agent was killed elsewhere.

Nichols allegedly took a courthouse deputy's gun and shot up the courtroom where his rape retrial was to have resumed that day before eluding police for 26 hours. He was unshackled at the time the deputy was overpowered.

Nichols is currently being held on the previous rape charge, but has not yet been charged in the shootings.

The Fulton County grand jury usually only meets on Tuesdays and Fridays. The prosecutor's office had said Tuesday that the case likely would not be presented until at least next week. It's not clear why the hearing was moved up, but it appeared to be a sudden decision.

A new grand jury was sworn in Tuesday in Fulton County. Prosecutors said last month they would wait until at least the May grand jury term to indict Nichols because the previous grand jury was sworn in by the judge killed in the attack.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Carol Sbarge contributed to this report.