Rudolph attorneys say fair trial impossible in Southeast
Lawyers point to data from Alabama, Tennessee
From Henry Schuster
CNN
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Eric Rudolph after he was captured last year.
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(CNN) -- Attorneys for accused bomber Eric Rudolph said Wednesday that polling data shows their client cannot get a fair trial in the Southeast and have asked a federal judge for more time before filing a change of venue motion.
Rudolph is charged with the bombing the New Woman All Women Clinic in Birmingham in January 1998. An off-duty police officer working as a security guard at the clinic -- where abortions are performed -- was killed by the blast, and a nurse was maimed.
Rudolph was caught last May 31 after a manhunt lasting more than five years. He also faces charges for a string of bombings in Atlanta, including the Centennial Olympics Park blast during the 1996 Summer Games.
In a motion filed in federal court in Birmingham Wednesday, Rudolph's attorneys said they have polled two jurisdictions in Alabama and another two in Tennessee to see if their client could get a fair trial. That trial is currently scheduled to begin in August.
According to the motion, 42 percent of those polled in the Southern District of Alabama -- which is based in Mobile -- named the case without prompting when asked if they remembered any case involving homicide in the past six years. With minor prompting, 97 percent of those asked were familiar with the case.
"When asked about their opinion of the case," the motion says, "65 percent of Southern Division respondents stated that Mr. Rudolph was 'definitely' or 'probably' guilty.
"These numbers demonstrate an intolerable bias against Mr. Rudolph which is inconsistent with any possibility of striking a fair and impartial jury."
The defense attorneys wrote that they found that fewer of those polled in Tennessee were predisposed to both finding Rudolph guilty and to sentencing him to death, but that the numbers were still high enough to possibly hinder his right to a fair trial.
Although the Rudolph defense team had until Friday to file its motion for change of venue, it has asked Judge Michael Smith for an extension so it could see if there is any difference in opinion about Rudolph in other regions of the country. It did not specify which regions might be polled.
