[Ben E Lou]

Man claims hostage shared in drugs
Ashley Smith used some of the methamphetamine that she gave Brian Nichols in the hours before he was arrested, according to a man who claims to be a close friend of the shooting suspect who says the pair knew each other prior to that too.

Smith responded "that was a lie" to WSB-TV, which reported Tuesday that Maurice Lovemore, a friend of Nichols, said Nichols had known Smith before he held her captive for several hours in March.

Smith also said it was "totally ludicrous" to suggest she took some of the drugs that she gave Nichols in her apartment where he holed up for several hours before surrendering to police the morning of March 12, just 24 hours after he escaped from the Fulton County Courthouse.

Nichols is accused of killing four people after he broke out of the courthouse March 11 before he was arrested the next day at Smith's Gwinnett apartment.

Lovemore, who said he was Nichols' best friend, told WSB that Nichols described Smith's account of those hours in her Duluth apartment as a "Hollywood" story and "totally fabricated." According to the television news story, Lovemore was vague, offering no details as to how he knew Nichols.

Sgt. Nikita Adams-Hightower, spokeswoman for the Fulton Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, said Lovemore visited Nichols on Oct. 16, bringing with him a copy of Smith's book for Nichols to autograph.

Adams-Hightower said Nichols also used his own blood to leave a fingerprint in the book.

She said Lovemore had visited Nichols at the jail only once.

Smith wrote in her book, "An Unlikely Angel," that she had given Nichols methamphetamine but that she did not use the drug with him. She has insisted in subsequent interviews that she had quit using drugs.

According to Lovemore, Nichols' response to that claim was " 'How many crack heads do you know are going to let you get high in front of them on their supply?' "

Lovemore also said Nichols claimed he and Smith had "some kind of relationship before that day" Nichols allegedly came up on Smith outside her Duluth apartment as she was returning from a 2 a.m. trip to the store for cigarettes.

Smith issued a statement through her publicist Tuesday disputing all of Lovemore's claims.

"As I say in my book and have said in countless interviews, my first encounter with Brian Nichols was when he pulled a gun on me and forced me into my apartment," the statement read. "My life has changed completely as a result of this ordeal, which put me face to face with my God and my drug addiction. As a result, I not only refused to do drugs with Brian Nichols that night, but more importantly I have no desire to ever do drugs again. I feel that God used this encounter with Brian Nichols to free me from this addiction and I want to help others experience the same freedom."

Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said Tuesday that he was "skeptical" of Lovemore's claim. "This is the first time this guy is coming forward. There is no external evidence they [Smith and Nichols] knew each other. Nichols didn't mention his relationship in his first statements [with police].

"I'm not sure I believe all this," Porter said.

Nichols is being held in the Fulton County Jail charged in the slaying of Fulton County Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau and Sgt. Hoyt Teasley at the courthouse and U.S. Customs agent David Wilhelm later in Buckhead.

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