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CNN Sunday Morning

Klansman Bobby Kerry On Trial for Deadly Bombing 39 Years Ago

Aired May 19, 2002 - 07:35   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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thirty-nine years ago, on a Sunday morning in Birmingham, Alabama, four African American girls were killed in a church bombing. Today, 71-year old Bobby Frank Kerry (ph) is on trial for that bombing. He is the third former Klansmen to stand trial for the bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church.

CNN'S Brian Cabell wraps up the prosecution's case against Cherry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The state's case portrayed Bobby Frank Cherry as a former Klu Klux Klansmen who was violently opposed to school integration back in 1963, and later complained that Birmingham was turning into a "little Africa." Prosecutors, through audiotapes and testimony, tied him closely to Bob Chambliss (ph) and Tom Blanton, both of whom were convicted of the church bombing.

Particularly damaging was the testimony of Cherry's own granddaughter, Theresa Stacey, who said he bragged of taking part in the bombing. His ex-wife, recalling a time when Cherry's car broke down near the church, said much same.

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

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

BROGDON: Sometimes he would say sorry, and other times, he say he was -- brag about it, you know...

CABELL: FBI testimony also revealed that Cherry boasted of learning how to make bombs while in the military.

(on camera): But the state's case does have its problems. There are inconsistencies, there are contradictions, there are plenty of unanswered, maybe unanswerable questions.

(voice-over): One problem for prosecutors, no timing device was ever found at the scene. They don't know how the bomb was set off or precisely what role Cherry may have played in the bombing. Some testimony said he planted the bomb. Some said he built it. Some said he lit the fuse. But there is no direct eye witness testimony tying him to the bombing.

DOUG JONES, PROSECUTOR: No one has ever said we relied an eye witness to this bombing. You always have eye witnesses to a crime. And we didn't have anybody there. We didn't -- we don't feel like we need anybody.

CABELL: Also unexplained, a phone call that was made to the church just before the bombing. A male caller simply said, "Three minutes," and the hung up. Who made the call and why? Nobody knows. Another puzzling report, two men seen running away from the church after the bombing. If that's true, who were those men? Those are questions that leave the murders of four girls after 39 years still unresolved, and leave the fate of Bobby Frank Cherry in doubt.

Brian Cabell, CNN, Birmingham.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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