![]() ![]() But I’m not responsible for it.”Ī 1993 meeting in Birmingham between FBI officials and Black ministers led to the reopening of the bombing case against Blanton and Cherry. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville, Alabama. “I think I was cleverly set up by the government … and that’s why I’m here,” Blanton told the television station from St. In a 2006 interview with Birmingham station WBRC-TV, he claimed the government used trumped-up evidence and lies to gain his conviction. senator, said in the trial.īlanton proclaimed his innocence years after being sent to prison. “Tom Blanton saw change and didn’t like it,” Jones, now a Democratic U.S. The targeted church was a rallying point for protesters. Attorney Doug Jones, appointed as a special state prosecutor, said Blanton acted in response to months of civil rights demonstrations. Lisa McNair, the sister of Denise McNair, said she also hoped Blanton had repented and added: “I wish I could have sat down with him to find out if he had had a change of heart.”īlanton never admitted any role in the blast, but evidence showed he was part of a group of hard-core Klansmen who made a bomb and planted it on a Sunday morning.ĭuring the trial, then-U.S. “She hopes that he found Jesus Christ and repented,” George Rudolph said on behalf of his wife. The bodies of Denise McNair, 11, and Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson, all 14, were found in the downstairs lounge.Ĭollins’ sister, Sarah Collins Rudolph, survived the blast but lost her right eye and is known as the “fifth little girl.” Glass fragments remained in her chest, left eye and abdomen for decades after the explosion.Ī parole hearing was scheduled next year for Blanton, and Rudolph and her husband planned to attend in opposition to his release, which was denied during a previous hearing. 15, 1963, a bomb ripped through an exterior wall of the brick church, killing four girls who were inside preparing for a youth program. Cherry was convicted in 2002 and died in prison in 2004. Chambliss was convicted in 1977 and died in prison in 1985. The investigation into the bombing was stalled early and left dormant for long stretches, but two other ex-Klansmen, Robert Chambliss and Bobby Frank Cherry, also were convicted in the bombing in separate trials. ![]() Moderates could no longer remain silent and the fight to topple segregation laws gained new momentum. Two others were previously found guilty and later died in prison.The church bombing, exposing the depths of hatred by white supremacists as Birmingham integrated its public schools, was a tipping point of the civil rights movement. "We've got to continue to understand what motivates people in the name of hate."īlanton is the last living person convicted of involvement in the notorious bombing. "That bombing and the deaths of those children remind us so much about what's going on in the country today that we've got to continue to have these dialogues," Doug Jones, the prosecutor who tried and convicted Blanton and another Klansman, told Debbie. "The cold-blooded callousness of his hate crime is not diminished by the passage of time, nor is any punishment sufficient to expunge the evil he unleashed," he said, and added that Blanton has "never shown any remorse whatsoever."Īnd as Debbie told our Newscast unit, "no one spoke on behalf of Blanton" at the hearing. "There's a whole community, hundreds of people, who are suffering from what this man did in anger and hate," McNair said.Īlabama's attorney general, Luther Strange, also lodged an official protest against granting Blanton parole. And justice has finally said he needs to serve his time."Īlong with those who died, McNair spoke about a woman who lost an eye during the bombing and others who were scarred by glass and debris. We hold no ill will or malice against him but we have laws in this country. "He's serving four life terms, and he should continue to serve the four life terms. And I believe he should continue to serve his justice in prison for the rest of his life. They're strong and proud, and wonderful people, who waited patiently for 30-some-odd years for justice to be served, and justice was finally served in 2001 in the case of Thomas Blanton. "I had to watch my parents and their grief all of my life. ![]()
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