In her new book, Ashley Smith admits to giving Atlanta’s alleged armed mass murderer Brian Nichols crystal meth while he held her hostage. Nichols, you’ll recall, is the man who allegedly murdered three people at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, including a judge and court reporter, and then killed another person on the streets of Atlanta, making him, allegedly, a cold-blooded maniacal mass murderer.
Nichols then approached Smith in the parking lot of her apartment complex, took her hostage and forced her into her apartment. What happens next has gotten Smith termed a “hero,” which even at the time I refuted, and for which I took a lot of heat from listeners and even my own producer. Here’s one part of CNN’s coverage which raised the “not a hero” flag to me:
Nichols apparently released the woman at some point and asked her to follow him in her car so he could dispose of the pickup truck, law enforcement sources told CNN. She did so, and drove him back to the apartment.
A few days later, CNN offered a transcript of what Smith said happened during that time:
So I went. … “I said, can I take my cell phone?” He said, “Do you want to?” I said, “Yeah.” I’m thinking, well, I might call the police then, and I might not. So I took it anyway. He didn’t take any guns with him. The guns were laying around the house. Pretty much after he untied [me], they were just laying around the house.
Lovely. She may call the police, she may not. The guns are at her house. He is unarmed, and she is in a car alone with her cell phone. She, however, chose the “not” option about calling the police.
Instead, she allows this monster into her car, and drives him back to her apartment. This is inexplicable. She brings this freak back to a complex where scores of families live, children, innocent all of them. This man who allegedly murdered four people that day, btw, was on trial for rape at the time. So he’s an alleged rapist/murdered. And the “hero” of this story brings him back to an apartment complex?
For me this was enough to challenge the idea that this woman was a hero. You’ll recall the frenzied news coverage was all about her having read to the alleged murderer a chapter from “The Purpose Driven Life,” talked about her faith, how even he was important, blah, blah, blah.
Now we have learned that, in fact, she wasn’t just sharing the “The Purpose Driven Life” with Nichols. Nope–she was also sharing The Crystal Meth Often Used. Once they got back to her apartment, he asked for marijuana. She said she didn’t have any but then offered him some of her meth.
In the memoir, “Unlikely Angel: The Untold Story of the Atlanta Hostage Hero,” Ms. Smith recalls that Brian Nichols, who has been charged in the death of three people shot at the Fulton County Courthouse and a fourth killed elsewhere in Atlanta soon before her kidnapping, asked her if she had any marijuana. She answered no but said she did have some “ice,” or crystal meth. Ms. Smith says that at the time, she was fighting an addiction to crystal methamphetamine that had previously led her to spend time in a psychiatric hospital and to lose custody of her 5-year-old daughter.
One of the results, btw, of using meth includes the effect of sexualized rage. Smith herself, admitting her addiction knew (and knows) full well the impact of that drug. And yet she offers it to this already violent man, and in an environment where so many others are at risk.
I maintained at the time, even without this information, that Smith’s actions put more people in danger, and her choice to bring him back to her apartment indicated some sort of symbiosis had happened between them. She then lets him loose on the police without telling them he was high on meth.
Every move she made she made thinking only of herself. She has now collected $72,500 in reward money from various sources, including the FBI. One of Nichols victims was David Wilhelm, assistant special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. So what does the FBI have to say about these revelations?
Richard Kolko, a special agent at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said in an interview yesterday that the disclosure about Ms. Smith’s supply of crystal meth was unlikely to affect her reward. “The woman did a brave act at a desperate time,” Mr. Kolko said. “The F.B.I. has no reason or inclination to go back and retrieve the reward.”
Even in our desire for “heroes” we see the death of right and wrong. Last time I checked, it was not a “brave act” to assist a mass murderer, choose to bring him back to your apartment instead of calling the police (unarmed and not high on a drug that brings about violent rages), and then supply him with meth when he asks for pot which you don’t have.
In my humble opinion, Smith should be arrested on drug charges (as many others in this nation have been with much less evidence and repercussions of their possession). And even though she may have eventually persuaded him to surrender (now with the meth revelation I think it’s fair to suggest her credibility is a bit frayed ), it is arguable that prior to that she abetted him.
One thing is clear–it is indeed God who is responsible for that situation not turning into even more of a bloodbath, despite all that Smith did.
