Hostage Of Accused Courthouse Shooter Gave Him Drugs (METH)

[underpants]

http://www.wtvr.com/Global/story.asp?S=3908352

ATLANTA (AP) - Ashley Smith, the woman who says she persuaded suspected courthouse gunman Brian Nichols to release her by talking about her faith, discloses in a new book that she gave him methamphetamine during the hostage ordeal. Smith did not share that detail with authorities at the time. But investigators said she came clean about the drugs when they interviewed her months later.

They said they have no plans to charge her with drug possession. In her book, "Unlikely Angel," released Tuesday, Smith says Nichols had her bound on her bed with masking tape and an extension cord. She says he asked for marijuana, but she did not have any, and she dug into her illegal stash of crystal meth instead. Smith, a 27-year-old widowed mother who gained widespread praise for her level-headedness, says the seven-hour hostage ordeal in March led to the realization that she was a drug addict, and she says she has not used drugs since the night before she was taken captive. "If I did die, I wasn't going to heaven and say, `Oh, excuse me, God. Let me wipe my nose, because I just did some drugs before I got here,"' Smith told the Augusta Chronicle.


"It's hard for people to understand the miracle of the story," she told the newspaper. "This was totally a God thing, to me in my life. This was God getting my attention, going, `I'm going to give you one more chance."' Financial details of the book have not been released, but Smith pledged to donate an undisclosed portion of the book's proceeds to a memorial fund for the victims. Calls to Nichols' attorneys were not immediately returned Tuesday. Prosecution spokesman Erik Friedly would not comment on the case. Smith says in her book that as the night wore on - after Nichols had snorted some of Smith's meth - she tried to win Nichols' trust by talking about her faith in God and relating to him her personal stories. She says she told him how her husband had died in her arms four years earlier after being stabbed during a brawl. She writes that she asked Nichols if he wanted to see the danger of drugs and lifted up her tank top several inches to reveal a five-inch scar down the center of her torso - the aftermath of a car wreck caused by drug-induced psychosis. She says she let go of the steering wheel when she heard a voice saying, "Let go and let God."

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. Dang! A whole new take on Let Go and Let God. n/t

[kikiek]

5. I'm thinking God didn't have a valid DL for that state and wasn't about to

break a law.

[Wickerman]

2. completely delusional

she'd make an excellent televangelist.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. She touted her success with her captor due to a Christian inspirational

book she read, the kind that "changed her life" book, and it probably went up in sales after the publicity.

Religious charlatan. If anything, more reason why drugs should be decriminalized.

[kikiek]

6. I'm thinking he liked her more for the Meth than the message.

[maxrandb]

4. Why???

Does a story that starts with a fundie, or someone with "moral clarity" (aka Rush), always end with drug addiction?

Please don't flame me, but every fundy I've met has a story like this. If their faith in God helps them overcome addiction, then that is great, but please...PLEASE stop preaching to the rest of us about how we need to let God into our hearts. How the "blank" do you know he's not already there??

[underpants]

7. max that post was word for word perfect

I compeltely agree in every way shape and form.

Well said.

[maxrandb]

11. Thanks

I have a brother. He and his wife had two kids. She was a heavy drinker and drug abuser. She left him and had a kid with a crack addict who ended up in jail. She came back to my bro, and he welcomed her back into his life. She now goes to church and is active in the local catholic diocese. She appears to be extremely religious and has stopped drinking and using drugs, BUT...everytime she feels the urge to tell me about "How Jesus can save me", I put up my hand.

She has no more moral authority to preach to me, than Rush and his "ilk" have to preach to America. That seems like an easy concept to understand. I don't know why more Americans don't get it.

[rocktivity]

10. More often than not, the problem is

that they've simply replaced one addiction (drugs) with another (religion).

:headbang:
rocknation

[genieroze]

12. Amen. lol

[MountainLaurel]

13. I think you're right

Plus, religion can take advantage of the guilt they might feel for things they did and people they hurt during their addiction.

[AlphaCat]

8. I don't know...

...what I think about her message, but I DO question whether a 'hostage' can 'give' anything or not. I mean, doesn't the fact that she was held at gunpoint (if I'm remembering it correctly) indicate she was being forced?

[noonwitch]

9. Can you imagine how terrified she must have been?

I don't care if she was on meth or not. She still handled the situation properly because she is still alive to tell her story, and no one further got hurt or killed because she talked him into turning himself in.

Perhaps her backround made her someone who was more able to understand where the killer was coming from and gave her some credibility with him. He was less likely to view someone who has really messed up her life at times as being unsympathetic.

"My grace if sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness". 2 Corinthians 12:9

Does it surprise anyone that she had a conversion after such a series of events? A lot of recovering addicts have a spiritual experience that helps them make their decision to stop using, and that helps them through their recovery process. Having a church to go to gives one new friends and activities to keep him busy, to break ties to dealers and using friends, and to provide emotional support.

[bluedog]

14. aw.come on.

the media talking heads went on and on about how this God loving woman was so brave to get this man to turn himself in....She was a Saint in their eyes.she got a reward ....her minutes of fame went into hours of praise......now she writes a book......for petes sake..this woman was a druggie......a freaking Meth druggie.she had drugs..how do WE really know that she didn't know this man?.......Come on..do we really know the truth about this?....Did they know the same people?.....Did they deal ......we know they used!
Good Christian God fearing woman..I am so sick of these right wing religious people.who turn out to be crooks and liars!

[underpants]

15. Our local station's tease on this

That link is from our local station.

We were watching the Amazing Race and the local CBS station had a tease on this "You will be SHOCKED at what she admits to..."

I started lauging, my wife rolled her eyes at me....this wasn't what I thought, still funny/ironic but not what I thought.

[Moderator]

16. locking

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