ATLANTA -- Ashley Smith will collect a $10,000 reward from the state of Georgia for her role in ending the standoff with accused killer Brian Nichols.
Gov. Sonny Perdue said Smith "absolutely deserves" the state's reward. The total reward fund stands at $60,000, but no decisions have been made as to whether Smith will get the other money.
The 26-year-old single mom said Nichols held her hostage for several hours at her apartment before she talked him into giving up.
Smith didn't always make the right choices in her life.
She married a man who was a hard worker, but he liked hanging out with the "good old boys" -- the same crowd who might have been behind his stabbing death three years ago.
As a teenager, she was arrested for shoplifting and was put on probation for a year. Later came arrests for drunken driving, speeding and battery.
But when she was allegedly taken hostage in her apartment by the man suspected of killing three people in an Atlanta courthouse rampage and later a federal agent while he was on the run, the mother, waitress and student relied on her calm personality and spiritual upbringing to make it through the more than six-hour ordeal.
Her grandfather, Dick Machovec, said in a telephone interview from his home in Augusta, "Some of the choices she made growing up were not really approved by me, but I just had to rely upon her growing out of that status."
Smith's grandparents, Dick and Ann Machovec, hoped her upbringing would balance her bad judgment. He said she was raised in the church and attended services every Sunday with them or her aunt.
This weekend, their prayers were answered.
Speaking of how Smith conducted herself during her hostage situation, the grandfather said, "It was almost like she was recalling all these things she learned as a child."
Keeping a level head, leaning on her faith and bonding with her captor may have saved her life -- a life she was just beginning to turn around.
Smith had been up late moving into her new apartment and had just returned from buying cigarettes at a convenience store at around 2 a.m. Saturday when she was taken hostage after Nichols allegedly followed her to her apartment door and put a gun in her side.
When she went public Sunday about her ordeal, she said she repeatedly told Nichols about her daughter and her desire to live so that she would have at least one parent. She said she talked to Nichols about God and faith and read parts of an inspirational book to him.
Smith said she gently talked to Nichols -- turning from hostage to confidant as they discussed God and the Rev. Rick Warren's "The Purpose-Driven Life."
She said that during the long weekend ordeal, Nichols eventually untied Smith, who suggested it was a miracle that he'd escaped alive. She also told him that God's purpose might be for him to surrender so he could spread the Gospel to fellow prisoners.
Smith told reporters, "He said he thought that I was an angel sent from God, and that I was his sister and he was my brother in Christ and that he was lost and God led him right to me."
Eventually, Nichols let her go to see her young daughter, and she called 911. Nichols surrendered peacefully.
Officers Line Walls Of Court As Nichols Appears Before Judge
Nichols, 33, is being held on an earlier rape charge, but a Georgia prosecutor said he will face murder charges in four deaths in last week's shooting rampage.
Nichols appeared before a Cobb County judge in Atlanta Tuesday. The judge informed Nichols he's being charged again with rape.
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Nichols escaped while being led to trial for that alleged rape and other charges Friday. He's accused of killing four people in his escape and the subsequent manhunt.
There was heavy security for Tuesday's hearing, with officers lining the walls and Nichols hands and ankles were shackled.
He spoke once, when the judge asked him if he had any questions. Nichols replied, "Not at this time."
His defense lawyer asked the magistrate judge to recuse himself since he'd been appointed by Fulton County officials. Nichols' is suspected of killing several people at the Fulton County courthouse.
Police Ponder How To Charge Nichols
How do you charge a man on trial for rape, who allegedly escapes, commits numerous assaults, carjackings and four killings before being re-captured?
Authorities are still trying to determine what charges will be filed against Nichols, who faced a magistrate Tuesday to be advised of current charges and his rights.
Nichols was being held on a federal firearms charge that U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said was a way to hold him until prosecutors could figure out how to charge him. But the U.S. Attorneys' Office announced Tuesday that the charge had been dropped so federal authorities could hand him over to Fulton County. He had been held in federal custody since Saturday.
Nichols faces federal and state charges in the deaths of a judge, court reporter, deputy and federal agent. Spokesman Erik Friedly of the Fulton County District Attorney's Office said prosecutors should decide within 30 days what charges to file against Nichols.
Friedly said the rape case was declared a mistrial Monday at the request of Nichols' attorney. Nichols' first trial was a mistrial as well, and Friedly had no information on when the third trial for those crimes would begin.
Nichols was about to be retried on a rape charge Friday when he allegedly overpowered a guard, killed Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, his court reporter and a deputy. He also is accused of wounding another deputy, who remains hospitalized. Nichols also is a suspect in the death of a federal agent after his escape.
A spokesman for the Fulton County District Attorney's Office said murder charges are expected later, along with a decision on whether to seek the death penalty.
Nichols' Daughter Talks About Her Dad
The teenage daughter of the man accused of going on a shooting rampage last week that left four people dead told a national television audience Tuesday that she was shocked to learn that her father was accused of the crime.
Jasmine Jay, 13, told interviewer Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America" that her mother, Stephanie Jay, came to her school that day to tell her the news about Nichols.
"I was in a state of shock but I was glad she told me instead of me going home to just see it on the news myself," Jasmine said during the show. "But I was in a state of shock, but she helped me to feel better."
When asked by Sawyer about Nichols' history, Stephanie Jay said she recalled a high achiever with great manners.
"He was very charming," said Jay, who met Nichols in college at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. "He was very nice to me. He was funny (and) he liked to play jokes on people."
She added that Nichols "wanted to make something of himself."
During the broadcast, the family, who appeared with their attorney, Joseph Armenti, showed home video footage of Nichols lavishing attention on his young daughter.
The relationship between Nichols and Jay ended when his daughter was 1 year old.
Stephanie Jay said she and her daughter made the decision to appear on the nationally broadcast show because Jasmine, who apparently has had little, if any contact with her father since she was an infant, wanted to deliver a message to her father.
"I want to let him know that even after all he's been through I still do love him because he's still my father," Jasmine said. "I just want to ask him why hasn't he been in contact with me all these years?"
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