BOB CHERRY gets LIFE in Prison for Birmingham Church Bombing

[CrimsonTide4]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — One of the nation's largest pieces of unfinished business from the civil rights era will play itself out as the final suspect in a 1963 church bombing that killed four black girls goes on trial.


Opening statements were expected to begin Monday in the trial of former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry.

Cherry, 72, is accused of helping plant dynamite outside the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a rallying site for demonstrators seeking an end to segregation.

The resulting explosion killed three 14-year-olds and an 11-year-old as they prepared for a Sunday morning service on Sept. 15, 1963. It was the deadliest act of violence during the civil rights era.

Cherry could get life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutor Doug Jones said it's time to put the case that has haunted Birmingham for 39 years to rest.

``It's been a long time. It's time this chapter comes to a close,'' Jones said.

Potential prosecution witnesses in the trial include Cherry's granddaughter Teresa Stacy and ex-wife Willadean Towns, who both have said Cherry admitted involvement in the blast. A son, Tom Cherry, has publicly contradicted one of his father's potential alibis in the bombing.

The defense is expected to call other relatives as witnesses to say they never heard Cherry admit involvement in the deadly blast.

``I have the most general of plans but my approach is largely, `Stay as flexible as you can because you don't know how a case will try,''' said attorney Mickey Johnson. ``If I talk about anything in terms of trial strategy, that might change.''

Cherry was indicted along with Thomas Blanton Jr. on murder charges in 2000.

Blanton was convicted of murder and is serving a life term. Another Klansman, Robert Chambliss, was convicted of murder in the bombing in 1977 and died in prison. A fourth suspect died without being charged.

A judge initially found that Cherry wasn't mentally competent for trial, but in January the judge reversed that ruling after examiners determined Cherry was faking mental illness.