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Closing Arguments in Birmingham Bombing Trial

Aired May 21, 2002 - 13:14   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn our attention now to a different case now. A jury is expected to begin deliberations very soon in the trial of Bobby Frank Cherry accused of taking part in the deadly bombing of a Birmingham church back in the early '60s.

Gary Tuchman watching and covering the trial and joins us now with the latest. And this is really coming down to the wire now.

Gary, good afternoon.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good afternoon, and you're right, it is coming down to the wire.

We are right now in the midst of closing arguments. We come to you from Birmingham, Alabama here in the year 2002, but when we sit in the courtroom, it feels like we're in Birmingham, Alabama in the year 1963, a very painful time for this city, for this state and for this nation. And it's all talk about what was going on racially back then in the United States in the early 1960s. Bobby Frank Cherry accused of participating in a bombing of a church, the 16th Street Baptist Church here in Birmingham, a bombing that left four young African- American girls dead.

Cherry is currently free on bond, but if he's found guilty of four counts of murder against him, he will go to jail for the rest of his life. Today during closing arguments, the prosecution, led by prosecutor John Cochran (ph), told jurors -- quote -- "for almost 39 years Bobbie Cherry has mocked justice."

Now we have a very unusual arrangement with this court, something I haven't seen in my 20 years of covering trials, they're allowing us to shoot video of the proceedings through a window so we can't hear any of the sound on camera. So that's why we have to tell you the quotes that occurred in the court, however, you can see the images with our cameras that were shooting through the windows.

The prosecutor then told the members of the jury after 39 years the time for justice is here. The allegation that Bobbie Frank Cherry, along with two other men and possibly even more, participated in the bombing of this church. Now the two other men are Tom Blanton, who was convicted in 2001, serving a life sentence right now, and Robert Chambliss, convicted in 1977. He has since died in prison.

Defense attorney Mickey Johnson then spent an hour 10 minutes rebutting what he heard from the prosecution. He said -- quote -- "This is an easy man to prosecute because he is the human equivalent of a cockroach." What he's saying there is this man was a former member of Ku Klux Klan. He has expressed racist views for most of life, and he's saying that makes it easy for the government to prosecute him but he is not guilty. We are not going to let the state convict purely on guilt by association. What he's saying is you're saying that he hung out with Tom Blanton and Robert Chambliss. Well they may be guilty but my client isn't guilty. And then the defense attorney also said keep in mind back in 1963 this was a time when the governor of our state, and the governor was George Wallace, was elected on a platform of segregation forever.

So the clear message from the defense to the jury, please don't find our man guilty on guilt by association. The prosecution is saying we have had his granddaughter testify, we have had his ex-wife testify that he bragged about this bombing. The defense has said, on the other hand, we've had his grandsons testify that he never bragged about this bombing.

Four little girls were killed. Eleven-year-old Carol Denise McNair was in the church. She was along there with three other 14- year-old girls, Cynthia Wesley, Addie Mae Collins and also Carole Robertson. They were getting ready for something called Youth Day back here in Birmingham, Alabama back then. They were getting ready to change into robes for a church service. That particular church, which still exists today, was a center for the civil rights movement back then in 1963, and this was a time where the schools of Birmingham, Alabama were about to be integrated. There were many people here, particularly members of the Ku Klux Klan who were very against that.

Closing argument will conclude this afternoon and then the jury will go out to deliberate.

Bill, back to you.

HEMMER: Thank you, Gary. Deliberations soon. Gary Tuchman in Birmingham.

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