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American Morning
Reporter Discusses Trial of Man Accused of 1963 Church Bombing
Aired April 27, 2001 - 11:11 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The trial resumes this hour for a former Ku Klux Klansman accused in a deadly 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. Thomas Blanton Jr. is charged with the blast at Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church that killed four young girls. Prosecutors expect to wrap up their case later today.
Joining us by phone from Birmingham is "The New York Times" reporter Kevin Sack, who has been covering the trial and checking in with us here at CNN LIVE THIS MORNING.
Kevin, hello.
KEVIN SACK, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Hi, Daryn, how are you?
KAGAN: I'm doing OK.
I'm wondering, as the prosecution is wrapping up its case, this time around, has there been any new evidence? Have you heard anything new?
SACK: We haven't really heard anything new yet, but we expect to today. The prosecution is planning on playing a set of audiotapes that have never been played in public before. One comes from a secretly planted bug that was placed behind a kitchen sink in Blanton's apartment in 1964, which supposedly captures him discussing the bombing in some sort of vague way with his wife. Then there are another set of audiotapes taken by an FBI informant named Mitchell Burns, who was a friend of Blanton's, and who planted a tape recorder in the trunk of his car and recorded a number of conversations between him and Blanton as they drove around Birmingham, including some when they drove past the church to look at what was left of it.
KAGAN: Why would it take 37 or 38 years for this to be played in the court of law?
SACK: There were various reasons: It wasn't available from investigators, and there were some legal issues that, according to prosecutors here, made the tapes unusable in the past, but usable now.
KAGAN: Thomas Blanton's former girlfriend was on the witness stand yesterday. What did she have to say?
SACK: The prosecution so far has done a very effective job of demonstrating that Thomas Blanton was a racist, and they used Waylene Vaughan, his former girlfriend, to do that, yesterday. What they didn't do yesterday is demonstrate that he was the bomber.
What Miss Vaughan said was that sort of an average date with Thomas Blanton back in 1962 or 1963 would be going to a Klan rally or perhaps sitting in the parking lot of a Birmingham grocery store, waiting for black drivers to leave their cars, and then waiting for Blanton to take a bottle of acid and pour it on the seats of their cars. She also told of being on a date with him once when he saw a black pedestrian in the road and actually veered his car towards the man, forcing the man to dive out of the way.
KAGAN: But Kevin, even from the beginning, the defense has said Thomas Blanton is a racist, you're not going to like him, and he is a hateful person, but it doesn't mean he's the bomber that killed those four little girls. Has the prosecution put together a case showing that, indeed, he was one of those men?
SACK: That's why these tapes will be so important today, because that's really the essence of their case: tying him to the bombing itself. And frankly, if the tapes aren't convincing, I'm not sure that they're going to be able to convince this jury.
KAGAN: What kind of representation have the families of the girls, the victims, had in the courtroom through this?
SACK: On the first day, they were all here. It was a very impressive sight. The first two rows of the courtroom were filled with parents, sisters, and cousins of the four girls.
Two of the mothers -- the mothers of Denise McNair and of Carol Robertson -- both were among the first witness to testify, the prosecution, obviously, trying to have an emotional impact on the jury.
And of the last two witnesses to testify for the prosecution, we understand, will be Chris McNair, the father of Denise McNair, who is also a long-time county commissioner here, but who has rarely spoken about the bombing.
And perhaps the most poignant moment may be when Sarah Rudolph (ph) testifies. She is the sister of one of the victims, and she was also in the church that day and was blinded in one eye by the bombing.
KAGAN: Any insight on what we should expect to hear from defense, when it's their turn?
SACK: There really hasn't been much information about that, and there was even the prospect early on that they wouldn't put up any witnesses at all. But the defense attorney, John Robbins, has played his witness list very close to the vest. They'll get started either Saturday or Monday.
KAGAN: Kevin Sack with "The New York Times," we'll have to have you back. Thank you so much for that report from Birmingham.
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