Free Republic

On this episode of The Resistance Library Podcast, Sam Jacobs interviews Brian Nichols. Brian Nichols is the host of The Brian Nichols Show and an Associate Editor at The Libertarian Republic. We had Brian on to discuss the small-L libertarian response to a handful of issues that many Americans, even limited-government conservatives, demand "something must be done." What follows is a spirited discussion of the role of the state in creating problems.

A jury's inability to condemn courthouse gunman Brian Nichols to death has re-energized efforts by Georgia lawmakers to allow a judge to consider capital punishment even if there's no unanimous verdict, as a growing chorus of officials says it's time to give the policy another look.

"Really, he was angry at the court reporter because he thought she was tampering with the jury by bringing them brownies and cookies."

Attorneys for Brian Nichols, who was on trial for rape at the Fulton County Courthouse when he overpowered a deputy and shot four people during his effort to escape, have asked that his trial be moved to another courthouse, because the current one is the crime scene. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 8 by Judge Hilton Fuller to hear motions to move the trial to a different courthouse... Nichols later surrendered after taking Ashley Smith hostage at her apartment and she convinced him to let her go and then called 9-1-1...

We'll talk with Ashley Smith who became a heroine to millions of Americans when she was taken hostage by accused Fulton County Courthouse killer Brian Nichols. Smith tells the story of her life and her harrowing ordeal in her new book "Unlikely Angel: The Untold Story of the Atlanta Hostage Hero."

ATLANTA -- Arguing to get his job back, a fired Fulton County sheriff's deputy said higher-ranking officials ignored his warning that courthouse shooting suspect Brian Nichols could be dangerous. Sgt. Jerome Dowdell, who was fired for praying with Nichols, made his appeal Thursday before the Fulton County Personnel Board. "I was confident those persons in courthouse security would take precautionary procedures," Dowdell said. Concerns that Nichols could turn violent in court came out toward the end of his first trial on charges of raping a former girlfriend. Nichols' mother, Claritha Nichols, and her pastor warned Dowdell on Feb. 24 that...

Atlanta Killings Suspect Pleads Not Guilty ATLANTA - Courthouse shooting suspect Brian Nichols pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges including four shooting deaths. A 54-count indictment has accused Nichols of murder, kidnapping, escape and other charges related to the March 11 shootings at the downtown Fulton County Courthouse. A judge and court reporter were killed inside a courtroom. Outside, a sheriff's deputy was killed and a federal agent was killed north of downtown. Nichols, 33, was arrested in suburban Gwinnett County 26 hours after the shootings started. He was on trial on a rape charge at the time of the...

According to broadcast reports this evening, Brian Nichols, the suspect in the Fulton County Courthouse shootings in Atlanta on March 11, has had a jailhouse conversion to Islam.Nichols, who was indicted last Thursday on 54 charges, including four counts each of murder and felony murder, has requested -- and received -- permission to talk to a local Imam. Nichols will be allowed to pray in accordance to the tenants of Islam as well.The indictment includes 18 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, 7 counts of kidnapping, and five counts of hijacking a motor vehicle.As you'll remember, Nichols was...

ATLANTA, Ga. — Investigators blame last month’s deadly Atlanta courthouse shooting on a series of mistakes and missteps. But some affirmative action critics say it boils down to the fact that there was a woman deputy escorting accused gunman Brian Nichols. “You have a female officer who is about 5 feet 2 inches tall, versus a criminal in this case — a former linebacker who is 6 feet tall,” said John Lott, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank in Washington. Those in favor of affirmative action — the policy of hiring and recruiting with the...

Brian Nichols — the escaped rape defendant accused of killing four people in Atlanta, including a judge — gained a novel defense last week from an unlikely ally. A Republican senator from Texas suggested that Nichols' alleged crimes might have grown out of a political frustration with judges who "make raw political or ideological decisions." ". . . We seem to have run through a spate of courthouse violence recently. . . . I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters on some occasions where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to...

ATLANTA - A sheriff's lieutenant who assigned himself as additional security for a rape trial was excused from work the day the defendant overpowered a deputy and began a deadly shooting rampage, authorities said Wednesday. The replacement for Lt. Gary Reid wasn't in the courtroom at the time of the shootings because suspect Brian Nichols' trial hadn't resumed yet and the judge was attending to unrelated civil proceedings, said sheriff's spokeswoman Sgt. Nikita Hightower. "What would have happened if Reid was there? I've often replayed that. Reid is a strapping man. Sharp. Big," said Michael Cooke, chief deputy of the...

[W]hat has been ignored in the case of Brian Nichols is the role that affirmative action has played in hiring standards for police... For example, in a study I published in 2000 examining the effect of affirmative action on police hiring, a comparison of male and female public safety officers found that female officers had 32 percent to 56 percent less upper-body strength and 18 percent to 45 percent less lower-body strength than male officers... Increasing the number of women officers under these reduced strength and size standards consistently and significantly increases the number of assaults on police officers. In...

She went out for cigarettes. That's my favorite detail of the story of Elizabeth Ashley Smith. This was not a noble calling; it wasn't even a noble errand. But the craving for nicotine at 2 o'clock in the morning led Smith into the loaded gun of one Brian Nichols, a man who had already raped one woman and murdered four men. Acccording to Smith, Nichols forced her into her apartment, tied her up, put her in the bathtub and told her "I'm not going to hurt you if you just do what I say." What would you do under those...

ATLANTA -- The woman who said she gained the trust of suspected courthouse gunman Brian Nichols by talking about her faith while he held her hostage was presented with $70,000 in reward money yesterday for helping authorities capture him. Ashley Smith, a 26-year-old widowed mother of one, was held for seven hours by Nichols at her suburban Atlanta home March 12 before he let her go. She then made the 911 call that led to his arrest.

ATLANTA - Authorities found hand-drawn escape plans in the cell of a man accused of going on a deadly courthouse rampage, a television station reported. After the March 11 attack that ended in four deaths, authorities disclosed that a judge and prosecutors requested extra security for Brian Nichols after investigators found a knife fashioned from a doorknob in each of his shoes. The hand-drawn escape diagrams were revealed during an interview broadcast Thursday on WSB-TV in which Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman said security has been increased in the county courthouse since the attack. Freeman said he did not know...

Ashley Smith (R), who was held hostage by Atlanta courthouse murder suspect Brian Nichols, smiles while receiving her reward money from Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue (L) and other agencies which totalled $72,000 dollars at the Georgia State capitol in Atlanta, Georgia March 24, 2005. Smith lived in the Bridgewater apartments and talked Nichols into releasing her which led to his surrender in Duluth, Georgia on March 12, 2005. Nichols is a suspect in the Fulton county courthouse killings of a judge, a sheriff's deputy and a court clerk and a possible murder of a customs agent. REUTERS/Tami Chappell

ATLANTA - The woman who led authorities to suspected courthouse gunman Brian Nichols was presented with $70,000 in reward money Thursday. Ashley Smith, a 26-year-old widowed mother of one, was held hostage for seven hours by Nichols at her suburban Atlanta home March 12 before he let her go. She then made the 911 call that led to his arrest. "My life is testimony that God can use us even in the midst of tragedy and miracles do happen," she said. She was lauded at a ceremony during which she received a fistful of reward checks from Gov. Sonny Perdue...

The recent events in Atlanta are yet another example of how feminism and affirmative action are failing society. For those who may have forgotten, an accused rapist named Brian Nichols was brought before a judge in an Atlanta courtroom, guarded by a deputy sheriff. In the courtroom, the accused, a 200 lb former college running back, overpowered his guard, a 5-foot tall female deputy, who was also a grandmother, relieved her of her side arm and killed 4 people, including the grandmother. Since this has transpired I have heard very little from the media about the advisability of having 100-lb....

Like all Americans, my heart goes out to the families of the tragic Atlanta victims. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin is right that the most important thing is that Brian Nichols is in custody. The police and SWAT teams were remarkable, and I thank God for the cool thinking of the rescued hostage. But now, the nation must know this was completely avoidable. This is but one of the long list of blunders made by Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard. Now, as Brandeis would say, it is time to apply the public disinfectant on a very real threat to the Fulton...

Americans are spellbound by the saga of Ashley Smith, the Atlanta woman held hostage by murder suspect Brian Nichols. Reporters covering the story are mystified over how anyone at the mercy of an escaped inmate—one who that very day killed another woman and three men—could remain so calm. The answer is that Smith had learned to trust God. During her ordeal, Smith—the widow of a murder victim who suffered much in her life—was able to enter into the suffering of her captor. She calmed him, and told him God just might have had a purpose in sending Nichols to her...