HOSTAGE GAVE GUNMAN METH

ATLANTA - Ashley Smith, the woman held hostage for hours after the
Atlanta courthouse shootings, reveals in a just-released book that
she gave alleged gunman Brian Nichols drugs the night he held her captive.

Smith, 27, was thrust into a national media spotlight after talking
her way out of Nichols' captivity and then calling police. In
"Unlikely Angel: The Untold Story of the Atlanta Hostage Hero," Smith
shares details of her seven-hour ordeal as a hostage in her
apartment, and for the first time tells of giving Nichols drugs.

Nichols took Smith hostage after a spree at the Fulton County
Courthouse, where he shot to death a judge, a court reporter, a
deputy and a federal agent.

Nichols asked Smith for marijuana, she writes, but she had only a
small amount of crystal methamphetamine. She thought offering him the
drug might curry favor, but she says she refused to take the drug with him.

"I was not going to die tonight and stand before God, having done a
bunch of ice up my nose," she writes.

Months ago, Smith said that early in her captivity with Nichols, she
asked whether he would mind if she read. When Nichols said OK, she
picked up "The Purpose-Driven Life," a book of Christian guidance by
Rick Warren. She said she started where she had left off, reading
aloud in Chapter 33:

"We serve God by serving others. The world defines greatness in terms
of power, possessions, prestige and position... . Acting like a
servant is not a popular concept."

Law enforcement agencies presented Smith with $70,000 for helping
authorities capture Nichols.

Smith is scheduled to appear on Oprah Winfrey's talk show Wednesday.

In her book, she writes that she hasn't touched drugs since the night
Nichols held her captive, and she admits that she didn't immediately
tell officials about the drugs she gave Nichols.

"I was afraid," she writes. "Later I came forward and shared the
details about the drugs with the appropriate authorities, but I
regret not having done so at the very beginning. I remember what
Jesus said: The truth will set you free. That's how I want to live my
life; I want to be an honest person and experience the freedom that
goes with it."

She also writes about her faith.

"Instead of running away from God's voice, now I seek it and try to
learn from his words," she writes."... I still pray all the time for
the friends I knew in the drug scene... . I pray that what has
happened in my life will impact them in some way. I want them to know
that God loves them no matter what they've done."