Prosecution Rests in Case of 1963 Church Bombing

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. â€”  Prosecutors rested their case Saturday against an ex-Ku Klux Klansman accused in a deadly church bombing after jurors heard a secretly recorded tape in which he boasted about not being caught “when I bomb my next church.â€�

The comment by Thomas Blanton Jr. was among dozens recorded more than 35 years ago by Mitchell Burns, a Klansman turned paid FBI informant.

Burns was an important witness for the state, but he agreed with the defense that Blanton never explicitly claimed responsibility for the bombing that killed four black girls at the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963.

Blanton, 62, is charged with murder in the bombing, the single deadliest act against the civil rights movement. He says he is innocent, and his attorney will likely begin presenting his case Monday.

Burns testified he was active in two Klan groups but agreed to become an informant after an FBI agent showed him morgue photos of the dead girls. Agents placed a tape recorder in the trunk of Burns’ 1956 Chevrolet, in which the two men went bar hopping night after night.

On one of the 15 tapes played for jurors, Blanton was heard saying: “They ain’t gonna catch me when I bomb my next church.�

Referring to the 16th Street bombing, Burns then asked: “How did you do that, Tommy?�

Blanton replied: “It wasn’t easy, I tell you.�

Other tapes, made in 1964 and 1965, were full of references to the church bombings, to bombings in general and to racial hatred and Blanton’s contempt for the FBI, which also had bugged his home and telephone.

Burns said Blanton always drove on their nights out, and he frequently went by the 16th Street church. “It was like he got a charge out of it,� Burns said in an interview before the trial.

While the tapes were played, Blanton sat at the defense table just a few yards from his old friend. In one of his few displays of emotion during a week of testimony, Blanton smiled when Burns said he drank vodka and beer during their outings so he could “put up with� Blanton.

Defense attorney John Robbins dismissed the tapes as nothing more than the drunken conversations of two “good old boys.�

Robbins brought out that Burns participated in cross burnings and did nothing to help police solve the burning of a black church. Burns also got confused about times, saying the 16th Street bombing occurred in 1964 and giving his age as 74, although he won’t be 74 until next month.

But Burns eagerly agreed with the main point of Robbins’ cross examination.

“In all the conversations you had with Mr. Blanton, he never once told you he blew up 16th Street Baptist Church?� Robbins asked Burns.

“He certainly did not,� Burns said.

Also Saturday, the sister of bombing victim Addie Mae Collins described being injured in the bombing.

Sarah Collins Rudolph testified the bomb went off while she and Addie, 14, were in a restroom with the other three victims, Denise McNair, 11, and Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson, both 14.

Robbins said he will ask Circuit Judge James Garrett to keep the case from jurors by granting a verdict of acquittal. Such requests are common but rarely granted. Robbins said he expects jurors to get the case Tuesday.