Unabomber Lawyer Joins Rudolph Team

Unabomber Lawyer Joins Rudolph Team
A lawyer with more than 25 years of experience, who represented unabomber Ted Kaczynski and other high profile defendants accused of capital crimes, has been added to Eric Robert Rudolph's defense team.

U.S. District Judge C. Lynwood Smith Jr. on Monday appointed Judy Clarke, who is employed by Federal Defenders of San Diego Inc. to assist Birmingham lawyers Richard Jaffe and William Bowen in defending Rudolph. Rudolph is charged in the Jan. 29, 1998, bombing at the New Woman All Women Health Care Clinic that killed a Birmingham police officer and wounded a clinic nurse.

Court records show Clarke has served as co-counsel for Susan Smith, who is serving life in prison for killing her toddler sons, and Kaczynski, sentenced to life for a series of bombings.

Clarke, past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and named one the top women litigators in the country, is a 1974 graduate of Furman University and a 1977 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law.

Jaffe said he and Bowen had requested Clarke's addition.

"We are absolutely delighted," Jaffe said. "We appreciate Judge Smith adding her. She is an outstanding lawyer. She brings many skills to the table and has vast experience in this area."

Jaffe said he expects others will be added to assist in Rudolph's defense because the case is bigger than first realized. Attorneys are waiting to see whether U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft will seek the death penalty against Rudolph, who also is charged in the 1996 fatal Olympic bombing in Atlanta. That decision is expected about Dec. 15.

Jaffe said there are more than 700,000 documents stemming from the investigations of the bombings, with 250,000 documents out of Birmingham. Jaffe said there are witnesses throughout the country, Jaffe said.

"Circumstantial cases are by nature much more complicated," Jaffe said. "We've maintained all along this isn't the kind of case that has been portrayed in the media. Not by a long shot."

Jaffe said the defense team is in the process of conducting a survey to gauge the public's perception about the case.

"We have some real fears and concerns," Jaffe said. "If I only knew what I read in the media I wouldn't presume him innocent either. That's our challenge."

Posted by Editor at November 26, 2003 09:01 AM