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| JUSTICE IN ALABAMA | |
 May 2, 2001  |
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Betty Ann Bowser reports from Birmingham, where a former Ku Klux Klansman was convicted of murder in the 1963 bombing of a black church.
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The Birmingham jury of eight whites and four blacks took just two-and-a-half hours to reach its verdict. There were no white men on the jury. Blanton was convicted of first- degree murder in the bombing deaths of four young black girls. 11-year-old Denise McNair, and 14-year-olds Cynthia Wesley, Carol Robinson and Addie Mae Collins died while they were waiting for church services inside the 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963.
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| Seeking justice | ||||||||||||||||||||
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DOUG JONES: They say that, you know, justice delayed is justice denied. Well, folks, I don't believe that for an instant. Justice delayed is still justice, and we got it right here in Birmingham tonight. REPORTER: Is this a conviction that could have been gotten in the mid-'60s? DOUG JONES: I think it would have been very, very difficult. As y'all... Y'all saw the evidence. This was not an overwhelming case. I think that in the climate of the '60s, it would have been very difficult. I don't think you would have had African Americans on a jury. And I think there are a lot of things that have changed. And I think it'd be very difficult, plus, you know, you can't get away from some emotion in this case. I mean, there were children that died, and you can't get away from that. And I think that to... To analyze the evidence and see the evidence, and to see that after all of this time that someone can be brought to the bar of justice and sentenced to life in prison, that is in and of itself is an emotional time. BETTY ANN BOWSER: But Blanton's defense attorney, John Robbins, was troubled with the jury's quick decision, which he said was based on emotion.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: Birmingham attorney Carole Smitherman was best friends with one of the four girls, Denise McNair; she had planned to attend services with McNair that Sunday morning back in 1963 until her mother said no. For her, the verdict meant a long nightmare was over. CAROLE SMITHERMAN: I don't think we could ever right a wrong like that because so... Because I wonder what kind of person Denise would be right now. She'd probably be getting ready for grandchildren or something that. So we can't recapture all that time for her. It's gone. But I think it does start for Birmingham, and for those of us who've been here over the years, to start looking forward and having more faith in the system that we're asked to believe in blindly. |
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| Investigating the bombing | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Prosecutor Doug Jones portrayed Blanton as a man who hated African Americans so much, he would constantly taunt them. Much of the case was based on circumstantial evidence. On FBI surveillance tapes, Blanton was heard to talk about "the bomb, the big one," and on one tape he bragged about not getting caught, but he never admitted planting a bomb. The recordings were so old and hard to understand, even with technical enhancement, that the jury had to listen on special headphones. Since the prosecution could not place Blanton at the scene of the crime, defense attorney John Robbins told the jury the Government had the wrong man. Robbins also made no bones about Blanton and the others being racist. REPORTER: But you yourself said that he has bad character,.... JOHN ROBBINS: Doesn't make him a bomber. It's not a popularity contest. |
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| The city's troubled past | ||||||||||||||||||||
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BETTY ANN BOWSER: Thirty-seven years ago, the 16th Street Baptist Church here in Birmingham was ground zero in the civil rights movement. It was here that Martin Luther King Jr. And hundreds of other African Americans met and planned the sit-ins, the rallies, the marches and demonstrations for equal rights. Back in those days, their activities met with massive white resistance. The Ku Klux Klan protested. The Birmingham police turned water hoses and dogs on demonstrators, and there were so many bombings of black churches-- usually late at night-- that the city became known as "Bombingham." But no one was prepared for what happened Sunday morning, September 15, when the bomb tore through the walls of the church just as the congregation began to arrive for services. The Reverend Abraham Woods was one of the first local civil rights leaders on the scene.
And the significance of it that these innocent little girls who had nothing at all to do with the civil rights activities, and who were children that were no doubt protected by their parents and were not allowed to even be in the demonstrations, they gave the last measure of devotion; they became innocent martyrs in the civil rights struggle. |
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| Rehabilitating Birmingham | ||||||||||||||||||||
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BETTY ANN BOWSER: The Blanton verdict comes at a time when Birmingham is trying to build a new identity. Attorney Smitherman thinks the verdict will help. CAROLE SMITHERMAN: For Birmingham, it does close a huge chapter in our history, because we've had a big hole. It's just like the gaping hole in the church. We've had that hole for 38 years, because people have been walking around who knew things about what happened and never did say anything. So now that we've been able to have the jury verdict, and all the evidence is on the table, all those pieces are still out. It was a lot and it made a big difference. REPORTER: Do you think people are going to finally put this to rest?
BETTY ANN BOWSER: All over the city there are signs of change: A crisp skyline, a first-class medical center, lots of new construction. And now, city fathers hope, there may also be a sense of reconciliation. |
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BETTY
ANN BOWSER: Sixty-two year-old Thomas Blanton, avowed racist and former
Ku Klux Klan member, was led away in handcuffs moments after being found
guilty. The only thing he said was, "I guess the Lord will settle
on judgment day." 
The
explosion got international attention at the time and galvanized civil
rights leaders to press for federal laws to protect African Americans.
Prosecutor Doug Jones said the verdict would not have been possible
in the racially charged atmosphere of 1960s, and he was not troubled
by charges the jury's decision was based on emotion. 
JOHN
ROBBINS: The prosecutors indicated if there wasn't... If they didn't
convict, that these girls would have died in vain, and I don't think
that's true. I think the girls will always be a monument to freedom,
to justice... I mean, long after we're all... we're gone. But justice
doesn't mean simply to convict just so we all feel good about ourselves.
Justice means making decisions without the emotion, making them by analyzing
the evidence. If the evidence is there, then you convict; if it's not,
no matter whether you feel that he's guilty, you can't convict. 
BETTY
ANN BOWSER: In the days after the bombing, hundreds of FBI agents were
dispatched to Birmingham. After a two-year investigation, four men were
named as unindicted co-conspirators, but no one was charged with the
crimes. And then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover closed the investigation
without ever giving an explanation. In 1977, after a key witness came
forward with new information, one of the four, Robert Chablis -- considered
the ring leader, known as "Dynamite Bob"-- was tried and convicted.
He later died in prison in 1985. A second suspect died in 1994. 
In
the 1990s, at the urging of local black leaders, the FBI reopened its
investigation. The Government originally intended to try both Blanton
and the fourth suspect, Bobby Frank Cherry, but Cherry was recently
declared incompetent to stand trial. Because there was no federal murder
statute in 1963, Blanton was tried on state murder charges by the U.S.
Attorney's office in a Jefferson County courtroom here in Birmingham.
REV.
ABRAHAM WOODS: They had been bombing churches and bombing homes, but
usually they did it under cover of darkness. And... but this particular
time, Sunday school and church was in session, on a Sunday morning when
people would be present. And these innocent little girls happened to
be in that lounge, in that washroom, and that bomb was planted under
the stairway, on the side that was adjacent to that washroom. 
CAROLE
SMITHERMAN: I think it will always remain in our hearts, as it should
be, but I think perhaps now we can move on to some other issues in Birmingham.
And we won't be called Bombingham anymore. We'll just be Birmingham.