September 16, 1963...
Terrorists from the White Supremacist group called the "Cahaba Boys" bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama, killing four young girls who were dressing to attend a sermon entitled, "A Love That Forgives". One of the girls was decapitated by the explosion, another had a chunk of concrete imbeded in her skull.
In 1965 the FBI issued a report detailing the evidence that showed Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., Herman Frank Cash, Robert Edward Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry were clearly guilty beyond any reasonable doubt of this viscous crime.
The Officials in Alabama decided to respond to the report by charging Chambliss, and two other "Cahaba Boys" members John Hall and Charles Cagle with "illegally transporting dynamite". All three were convicted and fined $100, they were sentenced to 180 days each in jail, but the jail sentence was "suspended", meaning none of the three served a day in jail for this conviction.
No other charges were filed at that time and the case was closed.
Not until 1971 when Richard Baxley was elected the new Attorney General of the State of Alabama was the case reopened. upon his election Baxley reopened the case and began developing relationships with the witnesses and securing evidence. In September of 1977, 13 years after he killed Carol Denise McNair, Baxley was found guilty and sentenced to LIFE In prison.
ENTER DOUG JONES!
Doug Jones was appointed United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama by president BILL CLINTON in 1997. Mr. Jones directed a review of the case, opened the files that had been sealed by J. Edgar Hoover, and used that evidence to attain federal indictments against Thomas Blanton and Bobbie Cherry. Herman Cash, the remaining member of the "Cahaba Boys", had already died a free man.
Jones tried these murder cases against Blanton and Cherry and attained convictions and life sentences in both murder cases.
Cherry died in prison. Thomas Blanton is still in prison.. prosecutor Doug Jones, Alabama Chief Deputy Attorney General Alice Martin, and Jefferson County district attorney Brandon Falls each spoke at the hearing to oppose Blanton's parole, with Martin addressing the hearing by stating: "The cold blooded callousness of this hate crime has not diminished by the passage of time." The Board of Pardons and Paroles debated for less than 90 seconds before opting to deny parole to Blanton. He is next eligible for parole in 2021.
Without Doug Jones and Richard Baxley, these men would have never been held accountable.
1963 Birmingham Church Bombing: The Ku Klux Klan's History of Terror p. 57
"Father Recalls Deadly Blast At Ala. Baptist Church". npr.org. September 15, 2008.
University of California, Los Angeles. "BIRMINGHAM CHURCH BOMBED". ucla.edu. Retrieved 2013-06-28.
"President Clinton today announced his intent to nominate G. Douglas Jones to serve as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama" (Press release). White House Office of the Press Secretary. August 18, 1997.
Terrorists from the White Supremacist group called the "Cahaba Boys" bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama, killing four young girls who were dressing to attend a sermon entitled, "A Love That Forgives". One of the girls was decapitated by the explosion, another had a chunk of concrete imbeded in her skull.
In 1965 the FBI issued a report detailing the evidence that showed Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., Herman Frank Cash, Robert Edward Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry were clearly guilty beyond any reasonable doubt of this viscous crime.
The Officials in Alabama decided to respond to the report by charging Chambliss, and two other "Cahaba Boys" members John Hall and Charles Cagle with "illegally transporting dynamite". All three were convicted and fined $100, they were sentenced to 180 days each in jail, but the jail sentence was "suspended", meaning none of the three served a day in jail for this conviction.
No other charges were filed at that time and the case was closed.
Not until 1971 when Richard Baxley was elected the new Attorney General of the State of Alabama was the case reopened. upon his election Baxley reopened the case and began developing relationships with the witnesses and securing evidence. In September of 1977, 13 years after he killed Carol Denise McNair, Baxley was found guilty and sentenced to LIFE In prison.
ENTER DOUG JONES!
Doug Jones was appointed United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama by president BILL CLINTON in 1997. Mr. Jones directed a review of the case, opened the files that had been sealed by J. Edgar Hoover, and used that evidence to attain federal indictments against Thomas Blanton and Bobbie Cherry. Herman Cash, the remaining member of the "Cahaba Boys", had already died a free man.
Jones tried these murder cases against Blanton and Cherry and attained convictions and life sentences in both murder cases.
Cherry died in prison. Thomas Blanton is still in prison.. prosecutor Doug Jones, Alabama Chief Deputy Attorney General Alice Martin, and Jefferson County district attorney Brandon Falls each spoke at the hearing to oppose Blanton's parole, with Martin addressing the hearing by stating: "The cold blooded callousness of this hate crime has not diminished by the passage of time." The Board of Pardons and Paroles debated for less than 90 seconds before opting to deny parole to Blanton. He is next eligible for parole in 2021.
Without Doug Jones and Richard Baxley, these men would have never been held accountable.
1963 Birmingham Church Bombing: The Ku Klux Klan's History of Terror p. 57
"Father Recalls Deadly Blast At Ala. Baptist Church". npr.org. September 15, 2008.
University of California, Los Angeles. "BIRMINGHAM CHURCH BOMBED". ucla.edu. Retrieved 2013-06-28.
"President Clinton today announced his intent to nominate G. Douglas Jones to serve as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama" (Press release). White House Office of the Press Secretary. August 18, 1997.
