12/5/2023 0 Comments Thomas edwin blanton jr. parolleHe still says he’s innocent,” Braddock said.ĭoug Jones, a former Assistant U.S. When Thomas Blanton was finally brought to justice, he didn’t have a single word to say to the families of the victims. “This man walked around knowing he was guilty and talked about what he did and how it happened and where he was and what the plans were. GAMBLING IN ALABAMA: Bentley talks about options Family of the deceased said Blanton never apologized for his role in the bombing, but instead wrote them letters maintaining his innocence. No one spoke on Blanton’s behalf, and he was not present at the hearing. “I feel like it was the right decision because if (Blanton) had gotten out he would have hurt somebody or somebody would have killed him,” Rudolph said. She said after the hearing that she was satisfied with the board’s choice. They also said Blanton will not be reconsidered for parole until five years from now, which is the maximum amount of time an inmate can be denied parole before coming before the board again.īefore making their decision, they listened to nearly 30 minutes of testimony from those opposing Blanton's potential release. Parole board members Eddie Cook and Cliff Walker ultimately denied Blanton a chance at re-entering society and noted during the hearing that state law requires parole hearings for those serving life sentences after 15 years imprisonment. His co-conspirators, Robert Chambliss and Bobby Frank Cherry were convicted in 19, respectively for the bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. “And though I did not get to know my sister because I was born a year and four days after she was killed, I’ve had to watch my parents in their grief all of my life.”įormer Ku Klux Klan member Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., 86, was convicted in 2001 for the 1963 bombing, which claimed the lives of 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Morris and 11-year-old Denise McNair. “This has been a legacy of pain in our family for our whole lives,” said Lisa McNair, the younger sister of Denise McNair, who was 11 when she was killed. Edgar Hoover had blocked prosecution of Klansmen in the bombing.View Gallery: Last surviving man convicted in Birmingham bombing denied paroleĭuring a parole hearing where only standing room was available, family members of four girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing expressed why the last living convicted perpetrator shouldn’t be released from prison. Justice Department concluded that former FBI Director J. The investigation remained quiet until 1997, when agents went to Texas to talk to Cherry.Ī decade earlier, the U.S. But I’m not responsible for it.”Ī 1993 meeting in Birmingham between FBI officials and Black ministers led to the reopening of the bombing case against Blanton and Cherry. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville, Alabama. and that’s why I’m here,” Blanton told the television station from St. “I think I was cleverly set up by the government. In a 2006 interview with Birmingham station WBRC-TV, he claimed the government used trumped-up evidence and lies to gain his conviction. senator, said in the trial.īlanton proclaimed his innocence years after being sent to prison. “Tom Blanton saw change and didn’t like it,” Jones, now a Democratic U.S. The targeted church was a rallying point for protesters. Attorney Doug Jones, appointed as a special state prosecutor, said Blanton acted in response to months of civil rights demonstrations. Explore »THIS WEEK: Despite false alarm at NASCAR, nooses sighted in 11 cities across USĭuring the trial, then-U.S. Lisa McNair, the sister of Denise McNair, said she also hoped Blanton had repented and added: “I wish I could have sat down with him to find out if he had had a change of heart.”īlanton never admitted any role in the blast, but evidence showed he was part of a group of hard-core Klansmen who made a bomb and planted it on a Sunday morning. "She hopes that he found Jesus Christ and repented,” George Rudolph said on behalf of his wife. Credit: Alabama Department of CorrectionsĪ parole hearing was scheduled next year for Blanton, and Rudolph and her husband planned to attend in opposition to his release, which was denied during a previous hearing.
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