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Suspects in civil rights-era bombing charged with murder
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- September 15, 1963, was a peaceful Sunday morning at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a black congregation in Birmingham, Alabama. But suddenly, a bomb exploded near the basement, where children were attending Bible study. Four girls died in the bombing, which authorities allege was carried out by four Ku Klux Klan members. Another 20 people were injured in the blast. Considered one of the worst instances of racial violence in the nation, the bombing gave fresh impetus to the civil rights movement.
Two of the four suspects -- Thomas E. Blanton Jr. and Bobby Frank Cherry -- turned themselves in on Wednesday, 36 years after the bombing. Blanton and Cherry surrendered after a grand jury indicted both on eight first-degree murder charges Tuesday. If convicted, the men could face maximum sentences of life in prison with the possibility of parole. Another suspect, Robert Edward Chambliss, was convicted in 1977 and died of cancer eight years later while serving life in prison. A fourth suspect named by the FBI after the initial investigation, Herman Cash, who also is dead, never was charged. "This was a tragedy of just absolute, monumental proportions," said U.S. Attorney Doug Jones. "It has scarred the city of Birmingham for almost 37 years. There needs to be some kind of closure one way or another on this matter." The victims were Denise McNair, 11, and 14-year-olds Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins. The Rev. John Cross, the pastor of Sixteenth Street Baptist at the time of the bombing, expressed "jubilation" over Blanton and Cherry surrendering to the authorities. "I have always thought there were other people involved, and I was hoping and praying for the day when some type of (charges) could be brought," he told CNN.com in a telephone interview from his home in Decatur, Georgia. 'It awoke the conscience of white America'Symbolically, the explosion was heard around the nation and provided a fresh reason for more blacks to become involved in the civil rights movement. And it showed white America, perhaps for the first time, just how badly their black countrymen and women were suffering daily, said Mark Potok, spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization based in Montgomery, Alabama. "This really was the seminal moment, it changed the course of the civil rights movement largely because people just did not care that much what was happening to Southern blacks" until then, he said. "But they could not stomach the image of these four little girls in white dresses being blown to pieces on a Sunday morning in church. It awoke the conscience of white America, which until that point had been in a long sleep." Investigation reopened 3 timesA murder investigation by then Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley resulted in Chambliss' conviction in 1977. Potok said Baxley had been deeply affected by the bombing and carried the pictures of the four girls in his wallet.
After Chambliss was convicted, the case was reopened in 1980 and 1988, without additional charges. It was reopened yet again in 1997. Two years ago, a federal grand jury began hearing the evidence against Blanton and Cherry. The case was turned over to a state grand jury because Alabama has the jurisdiction in the case, and because "we had statutes of limitations issues," Jones said Wednesday. "We expect the evidence to be a good bit different from what it was 36 years ago," Jones said. "We have no idea, at this point, when this case will be set for trial." Blanton's attorney, David Luker, told CNN, "My client was shocked and disappointed about the charges. He still proclaims his innocence. What do we know now that we didn't know 30-something years ago? Are our memories better now? I don't know." Luker said he planned to file for a bond hearing Thursday or Friday. Cherry, through his attorney, Mickey Johnson, also said he is innocent.
"He wants the world to know his story, and he thinks he'll be vindicated," Johnson said. Jones, who will handle the murder prosecution in state court, said both suspects were charged with eight counts of murder -- two counts covering each of the four girls who died. Four counts were for intentional murder and the others involved "universal malice" because the bomb was placed where it could have killed any number of people. 'This case could have been made 36 years ago'The bombing prompted calls for swift justice, but Potok said no one expected Birmingham police to conduct a fair investigation. The police chief was Bull Connor, an avowed racist who won worldwide infamy for ending civil rights demonstrations by dousing children with high-powered hoses and turning dogs on the protesters. Further, it was widely believed that the police themselves were responsible for many of the bombings in Birmingham, Potok said. He added that Birmingham was popularly known as "Bombingham" and that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. called it the most dangerous city in America for blacks.
The FBI sent 200 agents to assist the local branch, and the names of the four suspects quickly became known, Potok said. But charges were deferred because of one man -- FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who considered King a Communist and hated U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Potok said. Hoover said publicly that blacks had bombed the church to gain the nation's sympathy, Potok said. "This case could have been made 36 years ago. ... (The FBI) knew what had happened," Potok said. "They had a witness who saw these men. And they had a bunch of other testimony as well. The field office in Birmingham went to J. Edgar Hoover twice and said we have enough to go after" the suspects. "What really happened was J. Edgar Hoover stymied the investigation" by refusing to turn over to Kennedy the evidence FBI field agents had dug up, Potok said. "My supposition is that Kennedy never knew." Memories that will not fadeCross said he still thinks about the four girls who died after 12 sticks of crudely rigged dynamite detonated around 9:30 a.m., just as the morning Bible study sessions were winding down. If the bomb had gone off, say, five minutes later, the church would have been empty, Cross said. The bombing "stays in my mind" to this day, said Cross, who quit as pastor of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church six months to a year after the bombing and moved to Georgia. "I can see those girls, the shape of their bodies," he said. "It is (horrible) what dynamite will do to you; as well as I knew them, I could not recognize any one of them. ... When we got them over to the morgue, the families had to recognize them by underclothing they had, maybe a ring they'd bought, because the body was so deteriorated." CNN Interactive Correspondent Raju Chebium and The Associated Press contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES: FBI reopens probe into 1963 church bombing RELATED SITES: Welcome To The 16th Street Baptist Church Web Site | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In an interview, Lewis says closure is still needed over the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.
CNN's Brian Cabell looks at new developments in the 36-year-old case.
CNN & Time's Linda Pattillo looks at the still unsolved church bombing
