Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Trial of Birmingham Church Bomber Nears Close

Aired May 21, 2002 - 08:26   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to focus in on the trial of a man accused of bombing a Birmingham church in 1963 and killing four African-American girls. That is wrapping up today. Closing arguments will start this morning.

And CNN's Gary Tuchman is there and filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For nearly four decades, Bobby Frank Cherry, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, has lived under a cloud of suspicion.

DOUG JONES, PROSECUTOR: Well, you've got the murders of four little children and there is no statute of limitations for the murder of children.

TUCHMAN: But Cherry's attorneys have tried to convince jurors the two men already convicted of the 1963 Birmingham bombing were not assisted by their 71-year-old client. Among the last defense witnesses, two of Cherry's grandsons. In the courtroom, where our cameras can take pictures but not record sound, Glen Allen Belcher was asked if his grandfather had ever bragged about the church bombing. The response to the defense attorney? "No, sir."

It was a far different response during the prosecution portion of the case when the former Klan member's granddaughter testified he did brag about the bombing. And similar testimony came from Cherry's ex- wife.

WILLADEAN BROGDON, CHERRY'S EX-WIFE: And he just said that was where he planted a bomb under the steps.

QUESTION: He said that? Did he say he was sorry about it?

BROGDON: Sometimes he would say sorry and other times he'd say it was, brag about it, you know?

QUESTION: Mr. Cherry, can we talk to you for a second?

TUCHMAN: Cherry's attorneys say they do not want him talking to reporters or to the jury in his own defense, believing he shouldn't even be on trial because of his mental competence.

MICKEY JOHNSON, CHERRY'S ATTORNEY: We have not relied on his mental or physical health to defend him.

TUCHMAN: A ruling last year that he was not mentally competent to stand trial was overturned. He did talk about the church bombing back in 1998, when a federal grand jury investigated the case.

BOBBY FRANK CHERRY, DEFENDANT: I've never been to that church in my life.

TUCHMAN: But the state says Cherry, along with Thomas Blanton, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison last year, and Robert Chambliss, convicted in 1977 before dying in prison eight years later, all participated in the bombing that left three 14-year-old girls and one 11-year-old girl dead as they got ready for a church service.

(on camera): The FBI began interrogating Bobby Frank Cherry days after the bombing. Cherry never admitted any culpability to the authorities. But he did show where his sympathies were in a statement to the FBI in September of 1964 when he said, "The only reason I didn't do the church bombing was maybe because somebody beat me to it."

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Birmingham, Alabama.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com