16th Street Baptist Church bombing Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Prosecution of Robert Chambliss=== On November 14, 1977, Robert Chambliss, then aged 73, stood trial in Birmingham's Jefferson County Courthouse. Chambliss had been indicted by a grand jury on September 24, 1977, charged with four counts of murder, for each dead child in the 1963 church bombing.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jC4dAAAAIBAJ&pg=4849,7822272 |work=[[The Tuscaloosa News]] |date=October 30, 1977 |title=Bombing Trial Postponed |agency=Associated Press |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref> But at a pre-trial hearing on October 18,<ref name=changed>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-XMpAAAAIBAJ&pg=1210,4566059 |work=[[Gadsden Times]] |date=October 30, 1977 |title=Trial Date Changed |access-date=May 27, 2019 |agency=Associated Press }}</ref> Judge Wallace Gibson ruled that the defendant would be tried upon one count of murder—that of Carol Denise McNair<ref name=changed/>—and that the remaining three counts of murder would remain, but that he would not be charged in relation to these three deaths.<!--Why? What was the explanation? --> Before his trial, Chambliss remained free upon a $200,000 bond raised by family and supporters and posted October 18.<ref name=changed/><ref>{{cite news |title=Trial Set For Nov. 14 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-HMpAAAAIBAJ&pg=1078,4507733 |work=[[Gadsden Times]] |date=October 29, 1977 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |agency=Associated Press }}</ref> Chambliss pleaded [[Not guilty (plea)|not guilty]] to the charges, insisting that although he had purchased a case of dynamite less than two weeks before the bombing, he had given the dynamite to a Klansman and FBI [[agent provocateur]] named [[Gary Thomas Rowe|Gary Thomas Rowe Jr.]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RggdAAAAIBAJ&pg=6968,1341697 |work=[[Tuscaloosa News]] |date=October 4, 1978 |title=Rowe Will Fight Extradition To State |access-date=May 27, 2019 |agency=Associated Press }}</ref> To discredit Chambliss's claims that Rowe had committed the bombing, prosecuting attorney William Baxley introduced two law enforcement officers to testify as to Chambliss's inconsistent claims of innocence. The first of these witnesses was Tom Cook, a retired Birmingham police officer, who testified on November 15 as to a conversation he had had with Chambliss in 1975. Cook testified that Chambliss had acknowledged his guilt regarding his 1963 arrest for possession of dynamite, but that he (Chambliss) was insistent he had given the dynamite to Rowe before the bombing. Following Cook's testimony, Baxley introduced police sergeant Ernie Cantrell.<ref>{{cite book|first=Elizabeth H.|last=Cobbs|author2=Smith, Petric J.|date=1994|title=Long Time Coming: An Insider's Story of the Birmingham Church Bombing that Rocked the World|publisher=Crane Hill Publishers|isbn=978-1-881548-10-2|url=https://archive.org/details/longtimecoming00petr}}</ref> He testified that Chambliss had visited his headquarters in 1976 and that he had attempted to affix the blame for the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing upon an altogether different member of the KKK. Cantrell also stated that Chambliss had boasted of his knowledge of how to construct a "drip-method bomb" using a [[fishing float]] and a leaking bucket of water. (Upon cross-examination by defense attorney Art Hanes Jr., Cantrell conceded that Chambliss had emphatically denied bombing the church.) One individual who went to the scene to help search for survivors, Charles Vann, later recollected that he had observed a solitary white man whom he recognized as Robert Edward Chambliss (a known member of the Ku Klux Klan) standing alone and motionless at a barricade. According to Vann's later testimony, Chambliss was standing "looking down toward the church, like a firebug watching his fire".<ref name="CrimeLibrary.com p. 5"/> One of the key witnesses to testify on behalf of the prosecution was the Reverend Elizabeth Cobbs, Chambliss's niece. Reverend Cobbs stated that her uncle had repeatedly informed her he had been engaged in what he referred to as a "one-man battle" against blacks since the 1940s.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chambliss is Identified |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wyFUAAAAIBAJ&pg=5737,2303047 |work=[[Boca Raton News]] |date=November 16, 1977 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |agency=United Press International }}</ref> Moreover, Cobbs testified on November 16 that, on the day before the bombing, Chambliss had told her that he had in his possession enough dynamite to "flatten half of Birmingham". Cobbs also testified that approximately one week after the bombing, she had observed Chambliss watching a news report relating to the four girls killed in the bombing. According to Cobbs, Chambliss had said: "It [the bomb] wasn't meant to hurt anybody ... it didn't go off when it was supposed to."<ref name="Eugene Register-Guard Oct. 29, 1985"/> Another witness to testify was William Jackson, who testified as to his joining the KKK in 1963 and becoming acquainted with Chambliss shortly thereafter. Jackson testified that Chambliss had expressed frustration that the Klan was "dragging its feet" on the issue of racial integration,<ref name="Observer-Reporter Nov. 19, 1977"/> and said he was eager to form a splinter group more dedicated to resistance.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Q11OAAAAIBAJ&pg=7109,5438808 |work=[[Lakeland Ledger]] |date=November 19, 1977 |title=Former Klansman Convicted Of Murder |access-date=May 27, 2019 |agency=Associated Press }}</ref> In his [[closing argument]] before the jury on November 17,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Fk80AAAAIBAJ&pg=3876%2C1257552 |title=Former Klansman Convicted In Bombing Death |work=[[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]] |date=November 19, 1977 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |first=Garry |last=Mitchell |agency=Associated Press }}</ref> Baxley acknowledged that Chambliss was not the sole perpetrator of the bombing.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=exnkHesj3bAC&pg=PA314 |magazine=[[The Crisis]] |date=November 1978 |page=314 |title=Another Redemption: Baxley in Birmingham |first=Louis D. |last=Mitchell |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref> He expressed regret that the state was unable to request the death penalty in this case, as the death penalty in effect in the state in 1963 had been [[repeal]]ed. The current state death penalty law applied only to crimes committed after its passage. Baxley noted that the day of the closing argument fell upon what would have been Carol Denise McNair's 26th birthday and that she would have likely been a mother by this date. He referred to testimony given by her father, Chris McNair, about the family's loss, and requested that the jury return a verdict of guilty.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=umdQAAAAIBAJ&pg=3036,2084932 |title=Birmingham Bomb Case Goes to Jury |first=Howell |last=Raines |work=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |date=November 18, 1977 |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref> In his [[rebuttal]] closing argument, defense attorney Art Hanes Jr. attacked the evidence presented by the prosecution as being purely [[circumstantial evidence|circumstantial]],<ref name="Rome News-Tribune Nov. 18, 1977">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2fUuAAAAIBAJ&pg=5876,2757715 |title=Chambliss Guilty |work=[[Rome News-Tribune]] |date=November 18, 1977 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |agency=Associated Press }}</ref> adding that, despite the existence of similar circumstantial evidence, Chambliss had not been prosecuted in 1963 of the church bombing. Hanes noted conflicting testimony among several of the 12 witnesses called by the defense to testify as to Chambliss's whereabouts on the day of the bombing. A policeman and a neighbor had each testified that Chambliss was at the home of a man named Clarence Dill on that day. Following the closing arguments, the jury retired to begin their deliberations, which lasted for over six hours and continued into the following day. On November 18, 1977,<ref name="Rome News-Tribune Nov. 18, 1977" /> they found Robert Chambliss guilty of the murder of Carol Denise McNair.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3A4pAAAAIBAJ&pg=2363,3186990 |work=[[Gadsden Times]] |date=November 20, 1977 |agency=Associated Press |title=Puzzle Pieces Put Together in Bombing Case |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref> He was sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Anderson |first=S. Willoughby |title=The Past on Trial: Birmingham, the Bombing, and Restorative Justice |journal=California Law Review |volume=96 |number=2 |date=April 2008 |page=482 |jstor=20439181 }}</ref> At his sentencing, Chambliss stood before the judge and stated: "Judge, your honor, all I can say is God knows I have never killed anybody, never have bombed anything in my life ... I didn't bomb that church."<ref>{{cite news|title=Alabamian Guilty in '63 Blast that Killed Four Girls|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/19/archives/alabamian-guilty-in-63-church-blast-that-killed-4-girls-exklansman.html|work=The New York Times|date=November 18, 1977|access-date=October 4, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=O8ZVAAAAIBAJ&pg=3258,4579574 |title=Ex-Klansman Found Guilty Of Bombing |work=[[Eugene Register-Guard]] |date=November 18, 1977 |access-date=May 28, 2019 |agency=UPI }}</ref> On the same afternoon that Chambliss's guilty verdict was announced, prosecutor Baxley issued a [[subpoena]] to Thomas Blanton to appear in court about the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Although Baxley knew he had insufficient evidence to charge Blanton at this stage, he intended the subpoena to frighten Blanton into confessing his involvement and negotiating a plea deal to turn state evidence against his co-conspirators. Blanton, however, hired a lawyer and refused to answer any questions.<ref name=carry/>{{rp|574}} Chambliss appealed his conviction, as provided under the law, saying that much of the evidence presented at his trial—including testimony relating to his activities within the KKK—was circumstantial; that the 14-year delay between the crime and his trial violated his [[constitutional right]] to a speedy trial; and the prosecution had deliberately used the delay to try to gain an advantage over Chambliss's defense attorneys. This appeal was dismissed on May 22, 1979.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1HMpAAAAIBAJ&pg=2768,4097430 |title=Ex-Klansman Loses Appeal |work=[[Gadsden Times]] |date=May 23, 1979 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |agency=Associated Press }}</ref> Robert Chambliss died in the Lloyd Noland Hospital and Health Center on October 29, 1985, at the age of 81.<ref>{{cite news |title=Klansman Guilty in Death |newspaper=[[The Pittsburgh Press]] |date=November 19, 1977 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dDYcAAAAIBAJ&pg=1601,1317883 |agency=UPI |access-date=November 21, 2010}}</ref> In the years since his incarceration, Chambliss had been confined to a solitary cell to protect him from attacks by fellow inmates. He had repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, insisting [[Gary Thomas Rowe|Gary Thomas Rowe Jr.]] was the actual perpetrator.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gXk0AAAAIBAJ&pg=7041,945039 |title=Baxley Draws Attack |work=The Tuscaloosa News |date=September 4, 1978 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/30/us/robert-e-chambliss-figure-in-63-bombing.html |title=Robert E. Chambliss, Figure in '63 Bombing |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 30, 1985 |access-date=August 29, 2013 |quote=Robert Edward Chambliss ... who was convicted of murder in the 1963 bombing of a Birmingham church ... died yesterday in a hospital in Birmingham.}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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