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Rudolph defense seeks change of venue

Attorneys: Fair trial impossible in Birmingham

From Henry Schuster
CNN

Eric Rudolph
Eric Rudolph

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(CNN) -- Attorneys for accused bomber Eric Rudolph late Friday filed a change of venue motion, arguing their client cannot get a fair trial in Birmingham, Alabama, or anywhere in the northern district of that state.

Rudolph is charged in the January 1998 bombing of the New Woman All Women Clinic in Birmingham, which performs abortions. An off-duty police officer working as a security guard at the clinic was killed by the blast and a nurse was maimed.

Rudolph was arrested on May 31, 2003, after a manhunt lasting more than five years. He also faces charges for three bombings in Atlanta, including the Centennial Park blast during the 1996 Olympics. A woman died in that explosion.

The defense team said that since the Birmingham bombing took place on January 29, 1998, there had been such overwhelming media coverage -- some of which it called "sensationalistic and based, in part, on inaccurate information from law enforcement" -- that it made finding a fair and impartial jury impossible.

The defense said the argument was reflected in polling it conducted. With only minor prompting, 97 percent of those polled were aware of the case and 65 percent said Rudolph was either definitely or probably guilty.

Further, among those who believed the death penalty to be an appropriate punishment in a murder case, "78 percent felt that the death penalty was a more appropriate punishment for Mr. Rudolph than life without the possibility of parole," according to the defense motion.

The defense did not specify a specific place where it would like to see the trial held, but it argued earlier this week that neither Alabama nor Tennessee would be appropriate.

In a motion filed in federal court in Birmingham on Wednesday, Rudolph's attorneys said they had polled two jurisdictions in Alabama and another two in Tennessee to see if their client could get a fair trial.

The defense attorneys wrote they found that fewer of those polled in Tennessee were predisposed to both finding Rudolph guilty and to sentencing him to death, but even there the numbers were still high enough to possibly prevent a fair trial.


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