BRIAN NICHOLS TRIAL: Prisoner-turned-captor testifies

Brian Nichols claimed he was a “soldier for his people” when he killed a judge, a court reporter and a sheriff’s deputy and escaped from his rape trial at the Fulton County Courthouse three years ago, according to one person he trusted during his 26-hour crime spree.

Ashley Robinson, widely considered the heroine who brought about Nichols’ capture, took center stage at Nichols’ murder trial on Monday.

Defense lawyers wasted no time trying to turn Robinson’s testimony, which portrays a complex Nichols, to assist their insanity defense that their client was delusional and paranoid about the justice system when he committed the courthouse killings on March 11, 2005, and later killed an off-duty federal agent during a robbery.

Lead defense lawyer Henderson Hill asked Robinson, whose surname then was Smith, about Nichols’ demeanor and whether the “soldier” comment sounded nonsensical.

“It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me,” Robinson said. “He was somewhat rambling.”

She recalled Nichols talking about a “demon” but she interpreted that to be a spiritual warfare that Nichols was fighting, which was something to which she could relate as a Christian.

“He said he felt like he had a demon inside him and that God was on one side and the devil was on the other,” Smith said.

She said Nichols was agitated when he took her prisoner at gunpoint outside her Duluth apartment but that he calmed down and came across as intelligent and thoughtful. He told her that he needed a place to hide for a few days and then planned to rob a bank to get enough money to escape metro Atlanta.

“It seemed to me that he had had a very good life,” she said. “He was well-educated, and he seemed to me to be a very well-put-together person … not some thug off the street.”

Nichols’ father, Gene Nichols, dabbed a handkerchief under the dark glasses upon hearing Robinson describe his son. Nichols’ parents were living in Tanzania at the time of the killings; his mother was working as a consultant to the government.

Robinson said Nichols seemed to be in disbelief at what he had done.

“He said he had parents who were in Africa and when they saw him on TV they weren’t going to believe it was their son,” Robinson said. “He seemed disappointed with himself.”

Robinson said she won Nichols’ trust during the seven hours they spent together. While he initially tied her up, he later let her loose and left the three guns he had stolen in the bedroom.

Robinson, who never quit fearing for her life, said she talked to him about God and redemption. Nichols, whose girlfriend had delivered his child that week, warmed to the idea of surrender, she said.

“He said he wanted to rest for a few days and be normal, and then he would turn himself in,” Robinson said. “I said God would forgive him if he asked for forgiveness. He looked up and said, ‘God, please forgive me.’ “

Robinson testified that she was moving to a new apartment in her apartment complex and had made a cigarette run at about 2 a.m. on March 12, 2005, after her waitress shift ended the night before.

She said she saw Nichols sitting in a pickup truck outside her apartment but didn’t recognize him as the courthouse gunman —- even though his face had dominated TV news that day.

“I unlocked my door, and when I turned around there was a man standing there pointing a gun,” she said. “I immediately began to scream and he walked closer and told me to shut up. … He said if I shut up, he wouldn’t hurt me. I shut up.”

Nichols has admitted killing Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, who was overseeing his rape trial, and his court reporter, Julie Ann Brandau, after escaping from his guard, sheriff’s Deputy Cynthia Hall. The guard was beaten so badly that she suffered brain damage.

Also killed were sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Hoyt Teasley, who pursued Nicholas after he escaped from the Fulton County Courthouse, and David Wilhelm, an off-duty federal agent during a robbery.

Nichols has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He claims he was suffering from delusions and paranoia that he was being persecuted by the justice system because he was black.

Robinson said Nichols told her his long-term ex-girlfriend was to blame for his situation because she falsely accused him of rape.