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Brian Nichols wasn’t fighting injustice; he was fighting justice!Feminism and racism are deadly. In the Brian Nichols case, we can lay four corpses and several brutalized though living victims at the feet of incompetence that was the product of feminism and racism. For had the Fulton County district attorney or sheriff’s office shown any professionalism, as opposed to being guided by feminist and racist practices, Brian Nichols would never have been in the Fulton County Superior Court on March 11, and Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, Sheriff’s Deputy Sergeant Hoyt Teasley, and ICE Agent David Wilhelm would...

'The Purpose-Driven Life' has spread the ideas of a California preacher everywhere from the Chinese government to the hands of Fidel Castro. When ex-hostage Ashley Smith appeared on TV and told how she gained her freedom - and her captor's surrender - by reading to Brian Nichols from "The Purpose-Driven Life," her stirring story sent thousands off in search of the book. Author Rick Warren, though, didn't really need her help. His work was already the bestselling nonfiction hardback in US history. Since the book's release in October 2002, people apparently hungry for a clearer sense of purpose and direction...

Before Ashley Smith became America's newest darling by convincing alleged Atlanta courthouse killer Brian Nichols to surrender, her life was like a classic country-and-Western song - full of hard luck and heartache. Despair over being abandoned by her parents drove her to rebel against her strict Christian grandparents. Despair over her husband's murder drove her to drugs and alcohol. But faith gave Smith the strength to overcome her addictions and survive her seven-hour ordeal as Nichols' hostage. Now it appears that faith will be rewarded financially.

The lesson of Brian Nichols's last hostage. Friday, March 18, 2005 12:01 a.m. Americans are still spellbound by the saga of Ashley Smith, the young Atlanta widow held hostage by murder suspect Brian Nichols. Reporters covering the story seem mystified that anyone at the mercy of an escaped inmate--one who had that very day killed another woman and three men--could remain so calm.

ATLANTA, March 18 (AP) - The city's embattled Police Department acknowledged Friday that it made mistakes just after the deadly courthouse rampage here a week ago, and the chief said the suspect had spent as much as 12 hours undetected outside a busy mall. The police chief, Richard J. Pennington, said he would oversee a full review of his department's response to the attacks. Among the issues to be studied, Chief Pennington said, will be communication problems among law enforcement agencies and their mistaken focus on searching for a carjacked vehicle that they believed the accused, Brian Nichols, was using...

Thanks to a liberal, permissive system that sacrifices good judgment for political correctness, 3 innocent people are dead According to the rules, which say that a prisoner must not be brought into court wearing prison attire or handcuffs to avoid prejudicing the jury, Mr. Nichols was escorted to a special room on the same floor as the courtroom so he could change into street clothes and have his handcuffs removed. His escort, a female deputy sheriff, was quickly overpowered and her gun was wrested from her before she was pistol whipped, and left bleeding in a hallway as her desperate...

Flannery O'Connor Country The amazing story of how Ashley Smith stopped Brian Nichols's killing spree. Thursday, March 17, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST Go to the link to see the pics Noonan found so inspiring.

America today is The Happy Land of Make-Believe. We’ve become exquisitely adept at ignoring reality when it offends the prevailing cultural ethos. But reality always reasserts itself in the end – often with deadly consequences. Take gender differences. In the Happy Land of Make-Believe, we like to pretend that men and women are interchangeable – physically as well as psychologically. According to feminist dogma, women can be tough and aggressive – men sensitive and nurturing. Hence women firefighters, female soldiers and 5’ 2” cops. In Atlanta, on Friday, reality had the last word. Brian Nichols, a former college football player...

NEW YORK - Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life," already a multimillion-selling spiritual guide, is even more in demand thanks to the book's role in resolving a hostage dilemma in Atlanta. A man originally arrested for rape, Brian Nichols, was captured Saturday after a 26-hour manhunt at an apartment complex where he had taken a woman hostage. The hostage, Ashley Smith, has said she helped persuade Nichols to free her by reading from Warren's 33rd chapter, "How Real Servants Act," which urges people to consider their talents and their purpose in life. Nichols is now accused of killing a judge...

When Brian Nichols was brought into an Atlanta court on 11 March for a retrial on a rape case, a single guard -- a five-foot-two 51-year-old grandmother -- escorted him. Although Deputy Cynthia Ann Hall (web page) was a veteran with plenty of training, Nichols overpowered and beat her by sheer size and weight. He then took her gun and escaped. Nichols killed court reporter Julie Ann Brandau and Judge Rowland Barnes as well as Sheriff's Deputy Sgt. Hoyt Teasley on his way out of the courthouse. After carjacking several vehicles, Nichols pistol-whipped a reporter and stole his jacket. He...

The recent killings in an Atlanta courthouse brought a few heated comments about the role of crime reporting on NPR. Some listeners worried that NPR might be moving toward tabloid journalism in giving this story the prominence that it did. Following the murder of a judge's husband and mother in Chicago, I think it was a good decision to cover the Atlanta story as well. However, NPR frequently mentioned the gender of the courtroom guard who was overpowered and shot with her own gun by the fugitive. That evoked strong reactions from many listeners. The implication was that the female...

Flannery O'Connor Country The amazing story of how Ashley Smith stopped Brian Nichols's killing spree. Thursday, March 17, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST Ashley Smith and Brian Nichols were together for seven hours. This is Nichols's mug shot. This is Nichols's face after he gave himself up to police Saturday. Something changed. Something happened. This is from the transcript of Ashley Smith's testimony when she met with reporters in her lawyer's office on Sunday, March 13: It was about 2 o'clock in the morning...

The single mother who calmed Atlanta fugitive Brian Nichols as she was held hostage by the man charged with four murders and a rape, persuaded him to turn her loose and called 911 leading to his arrest has so far only been awarded $10,000 of $60,000 set aside as reward money for information leading to his capture. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue yesterday announced Ashley Smith would get the state's contribution to the bounty – $10,000 – but the FBI, sheriff's association and U.S. Marshall's office have still not announced who, if anyone, will get their contributions to the fund. "In...

Police apparently missed an opportunity to trap Brian G. Nichols in a downtown parking garage just minutes after Friday's courthouse shooting spree — the first of several lost chances to catch him that day.Two attendants at Five Points Garage said they heard a sport utility vehicle driven by Nichols smash through the gate and screech into the garage. Atlanta police units were just seconds behind.The attendants said they twice tried to show officers how to block the only exits from the garage at Wall and Peachtree streets, three blocks from the Fulton County Courthouse. Instead, a motorcycle officer and two...

Excerpt required. In a nutshell: Ashley Smith commented that she read portions of the book "A Purpose Driven Life" to Brian Nichols while he held her hostage.The book moved from #54 on Saturday to #2 yesterday on Amazon's best seller list.

ATLANTA - A girlfriend of courthouse killings suspect Brian Nichols gave birth to his child just three days before the rampage, and she said Nichols repeatedly told her that he wanted to be with the child. The mother's statements and transcripts from Nichols' rape trial are the most specific suggestion of a possible motive for last week's shooting spree. Prosecutors have suggested Nichols was worried about being convicted at the trial, but have not revealed a detailed motive. "I do know that he wanted to be with the baby. He did speak about it all the time," Sonya Meredith, the...

ATLANTA - Ringed by 19 officers in a cinderblock jail room, his hands and ankles shackled, the man accused in the crime spree that left an Atlanta judge and three others dead went before a judge Tuesday for the first time since the rampage. Brian Nichols, 33, was informed that authorities plan to charge him with murder. Nichols looked straight ahead during the five-minute hearing and did not make eye contact with anyone in the room, including the judge. He spoke only once, when Judge Frank Cox asked him if he had any questions. "Not at this time," he said....

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A rape defendant accused of killing a judge and three others in a shooting rampage last week appeared in court Tuesday and prosecutors said they planned to charge him for four murders. Captured after a massive multi-state manhunt, Brian Nichols was guarded by more than a dozen police officers and shackled at the waist and ankles. He remained expressionless as Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Michele McCutcheon informed a magistrate that authorities planned to file the four murder charges against Nichols as soon as an indictment was ready. Nichols, 33, is being held for the savage rape...

Fulton County prosecutors plan to file murder charges soon against Brian G. Nichols for the killing of Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, deputy Hoyt Teasley and federal agent David Wilhelm, an assistant district attorney said Tuesday. Michele McCutcheon, speaking after a brief court appearance by Nichols, said prosecutors have not decided whether to seek the death penalty. Nichols, 33, accused of going on a killing rampage Friday, could have faced federal prosecution for the death of Wilhelm, who was a U.S. Customs and Immigration agent. McCutcheon said Nichols also faces numerous other charges, including escape. Nichols made...

The man wanted for fatally shooting four people, inciting a day-long manhunt and holding a woman hostage for 10 hours went before a judge Tuesday morning regarding charges from a previous case. Scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., the hearing for 33-year-old Brian Nichols ended shortly after the hour. He stands accused of rape, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated sodomy, false imprisonment, burglary and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, authorities said. Fulton County authorities have yet to charge Nichols with the four shooting deaths that occurred last Friday. Nichols appeared at a magistrate...