posted on November 18, 2004 08:11:25 PM new
Nov 18, 10:11 PM EST
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Bobby Frank Cherry, convicted of killing four black girls in a racially motivated bombing of a Birmingham church in 1963, died Thursday in prison. He was 74.
Cherry, suffering from cancer, died in the hospital unit at Kilby Correctional Facility in Montgomery, a Department of Corrections spokesman said.
Cherry was convicted in May 2002 in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a gathering place for civil rights demonstrators in Birmingham, and was sentenced to life in prison. It was the deadliest act of the civil rights era.
Cherry was among three former Ku Klux Klan members convicted in the bombing, which killed the four girls as they were preparing to take part in a Sunday morning service.
Thomas Blanton was convicted in 2001 and is serving a life prison sentence. Robert Chambliss, convicted in 1977, also died in prison.
The Sept. 15, 1963, explosion killed Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, all 14, and Denise McNair, 11.
Collins' sister, Sarah Collins Rudolph, lost an eye in the blast but her husband expressed sorrow that Cherry had died.
Cherry had been ill for some time and complained last summer he was not receiving proper treatment and was being held as a political prisoner.
His daughter, Karen Sunderland, said the family would take Cherry's body to Texas, where she lives and where her father had moved in the early 1970s, for burial.
"He was a good man," she said, sobbing.
The bomb shook downtown Birmingham as church members prepared for a youth-led Sunday worship service. The city's public schools had been integrated a few days earlier after a six-year court fight, and tensions had been running high.
While Cherry, Blanton and Chambliss were all considered suspects within days afterward, the case went unsolved for years until then-Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley reopened the investigation and successfully prosecuted Chambliss in 1977.
Cherry and Blanton were prosecuted years later after new evidence, including FBI files, became available.
Though Cherry always denied involvement in the bombing, both publicly and in interviews with investigators, prosecutors reopened the case in 1995 and found five estranged family members and acquaintances who said Cherry boasted of taking part.
"He said he lit the fuse," ex-wife Willadean Brogdon testified at his trial.
He was convicted May 22, 2002, by a jury of nine whites and three blacks after prosecutors painted him as a staunch segregationist who was upset about the schools' integration.
Asked for comment after the verdict, Cherry stood and pointed at prosecutors: "This whole bunch lied all the way through this thing. I told the truth. I don't know why I'm going to jail for nothing."
In an appeal, Cherry argued witnesses who might have helped his case could not be located because of the long delay. He also argued that it was unfair to hold the trial in Birmingham, a city rich with civil rights history and where the case received extensive news coverage.
The appeals court disagreed, saying coverage was "factual, objective and non-sensational." It also said it was not the prosecution's fault FBI files were not available earlier.
posted on November 18, 2004 08:53:13 PM new
Finally!
Someone sentenced to a life sentence actually got one!
Too many liberals pushing for reform and early probation. About time they started keeping murders in jail.
But since this is a yeager post, I assume he's going to claim the four dead black girls had it coming or something. After all, they were in a church...
[ edited by replaymedia on Nov 18, 2004 08:53 PM ]
posted on November 19, 2004 02:55:14 AM new
"But since this is a yeager post, I assume he's going to claim the four dead black girls had it coming or something. After all, they were in a church... "
LOL!!! MEDIA ya took the words right out of my mouth..
posted on November 19, 2004 05:12:23 AM new
LOL replay... you are probably right based on yeager's love of churches... maybe one of his hero's died and he was looking for a memorial?
You are right, at least he died in prison... took 40 years to catch him, but just shows murder will be punished...
AIN'T LIFE GRAND...
Bigotry and prejudice -- these are assertions, not arguments. This is name-calling, not case-building.
posted on November 19, 2004 08:11:41 AM new
executable bill,
What your point here? That is the last time that I will ever see your STUPID STATEMENT. I will have to put you on ignore along with a couple of the other mental giants here. Bye!
replay,
Actually I started this thread to show that sometimes bigotry and racist has it's drawbacks. He thought that he got away with the murder of these people.
This idiot was a racist bigot who murdered 4 people because of the color of their skin. And very frankly, I hope that he died a horribly slow and painful death.
Bigots are miserable people. Prevent Bigotry through Education.
posted on November 19, 2004 08:18:30 AM new
Someone sentenced to a life sentence actually got one!
Too many liberals pushing for reform and early probation. About time they started keeping murders in jail.
Well I am sure if this happened in Texas, the man would have received the death penalty and would have been executed. Oh wait, they only execute the poor, mentally ill and people of color in Texas.
Q. What's the difference between the Vietnam War and the Iraq War?
A. George W. Bush had a plan to get out of the Vietnam War.
--------------------------------------
There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
---------------------------------- "Give it up for George W. Bush, the best friend international jihad ever had."
posted on November 19, 2004 09:05:07 PM new
Some day you might need a kidney or some other body part (giggle) Twelve. Would you just write a check for the full amount?
posted on November 20, 2004 01:58:43 AM new
kraft,
I don't know what 12 said, he is on ignore. I like to ignore the ignorant here.
As far as organ transplants, they don't do lobotomies. As for other body parts (giggle) micro surgery for that isn't a readable available practice yet. Or he might want to consult with John Bobbit's surgeon.
Bigots are miserable people. Prevent Bigotry through Education.
Prevent Bigotry through Education.