Hostage Gave Meth to Atlanta Fugitive <img src="http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/02/07/20050927144109990027" alt=" - " />
ATLANTA Sep 27, 2005 â?? Ashley Smith, the woman who says she persuaded suspected courthouse gunman Brian Nichols to release her by talking about her faith in God, discloses in a new book that she gave him methamphetamine during the hostage ordeal.
Smith did not share that detail with authorities after she talked her way out of captivity.
In her book, "Unlikely Angel," released Tuesday, the 27-year-old 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, so she dug into her illegal stash of crystal meth instead.
Smith, who has been in a mental hospital and has flunked out of drug rehab programs, says the seven-hour hostage ordeal led her to stop using drugs. She says she has not touched drugs since the night before she was taken hostage.
"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.
Police said Nichols took Smith hostage in her apartment March 11 after a shooting rampage at the Atlanta courthouse.
During the ordeal, Smith says, she pulled out Rick Warren's book "The Purpose-Driven Life" and read to Nichols a chapter called "Using What God Gave Me" to gain his trust. Nichols later released her, and she called 911 and told authorities where to find him.
Nichols is accused of killing four people, including a judge, and could get the death penalty.
Since Nichols' arrest, Smith has received $70,000 in rewards and has been bombarded with offers for books, movies and speaking engagements. Her ordeal has been held up as an example of the redemptive power of faith.
"It's hard for people to understand the miracle of the story," she says. "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.
