The Trial of Eric Rudolph

August 22, 2005
Rudolph apologizes for Olympic bombing
CNN.com
ATLANTA, Georgia -- Convicted serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph apologized Monday to his victims and their families for his 1996 bombing of Centennial Olympic Park, in which one person died and more than 100 were wounded. He did not apologize for any of his other attacks, including the bombing of a family planning clinic. "Listening to the victims, I can't begin to understand the pain I inflicted on these innocent people," Rudolph said in his statement, which he read after 14 victims or their relatives read statements. Two other statements were read into the record.

July 18, 2005
Eric Rudolph Sentenced to Life
CNN.com
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Eric Rudolph was sentenced to life in prison Monday for his role in a deadly women's clinic bombing after he angrily denounced abortion and one of his victims called him a "monster." Rudolph, who was allowed to speak, lashed out at abortion and the women's clinic that performs them. "What they did was participate in the murder of 50 children a week," he said. "Abortion is murder, and because it is murder I believe deadly force is needed to stop it. Children are disposed of at will," he said in a long speech against abortion. "The state is no longer the protector of the innocence."

April 14, 2005
Eric Rudolph's Written Statement
The Associated Press
Following is the full text of Eric Rudolph's written statement handed out by his attorneys Wednesday after his guilty pleas to four bombings across the South, including the deadly blast at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

April 14, 2005
Eric Rudolph says "force is justified"
By Kristen Wyatt / The Associated Press
ATLANTA -- A defiant Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty Wednesday to carrying out the deadly bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and three other attacks, saying he picked the Summer Games to embarrass the U.S. government in front of the world "for its abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand." "Because I believe that abortion is murder, I also believe that force is justified ... in an attempt to stop it," he said in a statement handed out by his lawyers after he entered his pleas in back-to-back court appearances, first in Birmingham, Ala., in the morning, then in Atlanta in the afternoon.

April 14, 2005
Key witness Jermaine J. Hughes
The Associated Press
Jermaine J. Hughes graduated from UAB in June 2000 with a psychology degree and now is attending law school elsewhere. Authorities protected his identity for years for fear someone might try to harm him while Rudolph was on the lam and awaiting trial.

April 13, 2005
Rudolph cites motive
By Charles Montaldo / About.com
"The purpose of the attack on July 27th was to confound, anger and embarrass the Washington government in the eyes of the world for its abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand," Rudolph's statement said. Rudolph called President Bush a "coward" for not making abortion illegal.

April 13, 2005
Eric Rudolph pleads guilty in Olympic
bombing and three other attacks
By Kristen Wyatt / The Associated Press
Right-wing extremist Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty Wednesday to carrying out the deadly bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and three other attacks across the South, admitting to one of the crimes with a hint of pride in his voice and a wink at prosecutors.

April 13, 2005
Rudolph Pleads Guilty in Birmingham
to Abortion Clinic Bombing
The Associated Press
With a hint of pride in his voice and a wink at prosecutors, Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty Wednesday to setting off a deadly blast at an abortion clinic, the first of a string of bombings that will send him to prison for life. “I certainly did, your honor,” Rudolph told the judge when asked if he had placed the bomb.

April 12, 2005
Courts in Two States Preparing
for Crowded Rudolph Hearing
The Associated Press
Federal court officials in Alabama and Georgia are hooking up closed-circuit televisions and setting aside extra space to accommodate the dozens of victims expected to show up when suspected serial bomber Eric Rudolph pleads guilty Wednesday. Whether the public will learn why Rudolph, an anti-government extremist, detonated bombs at the 1996 Olympics and three other sites that killed two and injured more than 120 is unclear.

April 9, 2005
Rudolph Avoids Death Penalty
By Jon Ostendorff / Asheville Citizen-Times
Asheville attorney Sean Devereux, who represented Eric Rudolph during the suspect’s brief court appearance in Asheville shortly after his capture, said he’s surprised Rudolph agreed to plead. “He didn’t strike me as someone who was afraid of a trial or the consequences,” Devereux said. “He struck me as a pretty stubborn guy.” Rudolph, as part of the deal, disclosed to the government the existence and locations of more than 250 pounds of dynamite buried in several sites in Western North Carolina.

April 9, 2005
Survivalist Strikes Deal In Bombings
The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Eric Rudolph was once the ultimate anti-government extremist: He hunkered down in the woods of North Carolina and lived off the land for five long years as federal agents carried out a massive manhunt to bring him to justice for a series of bombings in the late 1990s. He became an almost mythic figure to fellow radicals, inspiring two country-western songs and a T-shirt that bore the words "Run Rudolph Run."

April 8, 2005
Victim's family supports
plea deal to save lives
Errin Haines / The Associated Press
ATLANTA -- The husband and daughter of the woman killed in the 1996 Olympic Park bombing said Friday they considered the loss of more innocent lives in their decision to support Eric Rudolph's guilty plea. Alice Hawthorne was the lone casualty in the July 27, 1996 bombing, which also injured 111 people. John Hawthorne and Fallon Stubbs, Alice Hawthorne's daughter, were contacted by the U.S. Attorney's office about the plea.

April 8, 2005
Plea leaves Lyons 'extremely disappointed'
CNN
WASHINGTON -- Serial bombing suspect Eric Rudolph has agreed to plead guilty to all charges against him, sources tell CNN. Emily Lyons, a nurse who lost an eye in the 1998 Birmingham bombing, joined CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Judy Woodruff and Kelli Arena to discuss her reaction to the plea deal.

April 8, 2005
Eric Rudolph’s rage
was a long time brewing
Michael E. Ross / MSNBC
This story was originally published June 6, 2003, and has been updated: Before he entered the military, before being implicated in homegrown terrorism that cost two people their lives, Eric Rudolph had a life on a downward spiral, a descent into a free-floating anger that developed over time, an intolerance of differences in race and gender preference that was festering years before the attacks of which he stands accused.

April 8, 2005
Lawyer hopes Rudolph plea
would finally clear Jewell
Errin Haines / The Associated Press
ATLANTA -- A plea agreement in the 1996 Olympic Park bombing should mean final vindication for hero-turned-suspect Richard Jewell, his attorney said Friday. Jewell was aware of the initial reports of a confession by Eric Rudolph, but was awaiting official word before saying anything publicly, attorney L. Lin Wood said Friday. The earliest he is expected to comment is next week.

April 8, 2005
Rudolph to Plead Guilty to Bombings
MSNBC
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Eric Rudolph has agreed to plead guilty and admit setting off a deadly bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and three other blasts in a deal that allows the anti-government extremist to escape the death penalty, Justice Department officials said Friday. Hearings have been scheduled in Birmingham and Atlanta on Wednesday, where Rudolph is scheduled to admit his guilt. The plea deal calls for four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Rudolph had faced a possible death sentence.

April 6, 2005
Potential jurors report in Rudolph trial
USA Today
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Hundreds of prospective jurors reported to a hotel ballroom Wednesday in the trial of Eric Rudolph, who faces a possible death penalty in the bombing of an abortion clinic seven years ago. The potential jurors, called from 31 counties in northern Alabama, will complete lengthy questionnaires gauging their opinions on topics including capital punishment, abortion and federal law enforcement.

April 5, 2005
Jury selection to begin in Rudolph trial
By Henry Schuster / CNN
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- More than seven years after an explosion at an Alabama women's clinic killed a police officer and severely injured a nurse, jury selection begins Wednesday in the federal trial of bombing suspect Eric Rudolph. Rudolph faces the possibility of the death penalty if he is convicted of the January 1998 bombing of the clinic in Birmingham where abortions were performed.

March 30, 2005
Defense: Explosives traces contaminated
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
Eric Rudolph's lawyers portrayed government explosives testing as a sloppy mess Wednesday and suggested tainted evidence was used to link the serial bombing suspect to a deadly abortion clinic blast.

March 29, 2005
Rudolph Hearing On Unreliable Evidence
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
Traces of an explosive used to bomb an Alabama abortion clinic were found in Eric Rudolph's home in North Carolina, a federal agent testified Tuesday in a key pretrial hearing for the serial bombing suspect. The testimony came at the start of a hearing before U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith, who is considering a defense request to throw out the evidence as unscientific and unreliable.

March 28, 2005
Prosecutors allege link between
Rudolph, anti-abortion figure
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
Prosecutors in the trial of Eric Rudolph, charged in a fatal abortion clinic bombing, want to show jurors that he had ties to a Tennessee church led by an anti-abortion activist. In court papers filed over the weekend, prosecutors said Rudolph's "expressed anti-abortion views and his association with anti-abortion activists will clearly help set the stage for the crime, give it context, and will help the jury understand the reasons" for it.

March 16, 2005
Rudolph prosecutors want to
show jury scene of clinic bombing
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
Prosecutors have asked for permission to take jurors on a bus ride during Eric Rudolph's trial and show them the abortion clinic he is accused of bombing in 1998. The defense, meanwhile, again has asked a judge to throw out the indictment against Rudolph, arguing the court's jury selection procedures violate his constitutional rights. The defense also wants access to any information prosecutors gather on potential jurors, including their political affiliations.

March 03, 2005
Judge Won't Dismiss Capital
Case Against Rudolph
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
A federal judge Thursday refused to throw out the death penalty case against Eric Rudolph, rejecting defense claims that the serial bombing suspect should be tried under a law that doesn't allow capital punishment. In a brief order, U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith accepted the recommendation of a magistrate judge who ruled Rudolph could face death if convicted in the deadly bombing of a Birmingham abortion clinic in 1998.

March 01, 2005
Prosecutors defend work of labs,
agents in Eric Rudolph case
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
Prosecutors are defending government crime laboratories and investigators against claims by Eric Rudolph that their work was shoddy and scientific evidence that could link him to a deadly abortion clinic bombing should be thrown out.

February 22, 2005
Eric Rudolph: Born to Run
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Eric Rudolph's lawyers have an explanation for his nearly 5 1/2 years on the lam after an Alabama abortion clinic bombing: His culture made him do it. Professor Curtis W. Wood says that "Rudolph's retreat to the wilderness in the face of being sought by federal law enforcement is consistent with the cultural values, principles and lifestyles of some of those in the region," according to the defense. The subculture of the area includes "strong community ties coupled with an independent spirit; living off the land; preservation of individual privacy and freedom; and a persistent mistrust and suspicion of government," according to an earlier defense document.

February 16, 2005
Judge sets hearing on bomb model,
other evidence in Rudolph case
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The judge in Eric Rudolph's death penalty case agreed Wednesday to a hearing on whether prosecutors can show jurors a model of the bomb that killed a police officer outside a Birmingham abortion clinic. U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith said the hearing would begin on March 28 in Huntsville, where he normally hears cases. The defense has asked the judge to bar prosecutors from using the bomb model, made by a government expert. Smith said he would also hear testimony on defense challenges of the work of forensic experts who examined pieces of the bomb.

February 9, 2005
FBI whistle-blower to testify
for defense in Rudolph bombing
CNN Cable News Network
In defense motions filed Tuesday in Birmingham, FBI whistle-blower Frederick Whitehurst is quoted as challenging the work of ATF bomb technicians who collected evidence from the site of the clinic bombing, as well as from Rudolph's home and truck after he became identified as a suspect. "I have concluded that the actions of law enforcement agents who seized and processed various items of explosive-related evidence at the crime scene, and at Mr. Rudolph's storage facility, trailer, and Nissan truck, is not the product of reliable scientific principles and methods, and that these law enforcement officials did not apply the principles and methods of science reliably to the facts of this case," said the Whitehurst affidavit.

February 9, 2005
Rudolph challenges ID by black witness
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Defense lawyers are questioning claims of a black man who allegedly saw Eric Rudolph near the scene of a deadly abortion clinic blast, arguing his identification may be flawed because Rudolph is white. In a document filed Wednesday, Rudolph's attorneys asked a judge to consider allowing testimony from a university professor about the shakiness of so-called "cross-racial identifications" and eyewitness identifications in general.

February 3, 2005
Rudolph Defense Says "Numerous
Deficiencies" in ATF Crime Labs
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
Internal audits of crime laboratories run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reveal "numerous deficiencies" that could help discredit evidence allegedly linking Eric Rudolph to a deadly abortion clinic blast, his lawyers said in documents made public Thursday.

February 1, 2005
Prosecution links bomb
to book ordered by Rudolph
The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Pieces of the bomb that killed a police officer outside an Alabama abortion clinic matched a detonator described in an explosives book ordered by bombing suspect Eric Rudolph, prosecutors say. The government also says a handwriting expert matched Rudolph's handwriting to cryptic notes jotted in his Bible, which included the words "eye for eye" and "Christian Soldiers requirement." The writings "help reveal [Rudolph's] motive for committing the bombing," prosecutors argued.

January 18, 2005
Ala. Judge Rejects Rudolph
Bid to Drop Death Penalty
The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A judge Tuesday rejected a defense claim that prosecutors waited too long to announce they would seek the death penalty against serial bombing suspect Eric Rudolph. The advisory report by U.S. Magistrate Judge T. Michael Putnam now goes to a district judge for review. Rudolph's trial in a 1998 abortion clinic bombing that killed a police officer and critically injuring a nurse is set for May.

January 14, 2005
Rudolph team protests handwriting analysis
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Lawyers for Eric Rudolph want a court to throw out the work of a handwriting analyst who examined his Bible, which prosecutors say contained the word "bombs" written beside an apocalyptic passage describing hail from heaven. The defense, which lost a previous fight to have Rudolph's Bible excluded as evidence, contends handwriting analysis is inherently flawed and doesn't meet scientific standards required to be introduced in court.

January 04, 2005
Rudolph defense disputes claim
he planned to flee after bombing
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Eric Rudolph's defense disputes the government's claim that he planned to turn fugitive after a 1998 Alabama abortion clinic bombing, arguing that he would have taken more provisions if he anticipated a life on the lam in North Carolina woods. In court papers made public Tuesday, his lawyers said the one-time soldier and woodsman would have had "more than a last meal of a Whopper, Coke and fries at Burger King" and $109.06 in food from a North Carolina grocery had he made plans to hide out.

December 22, 2004
Rudolph's Attorneys Get Bomb Model Access
By Val Walton / The Birmingham News
A magistrate judge ruled Tuesday Eric Robert Rudolph's defense attorneys should have access to, if prosecutors plan to use them at trial, any replica or model of the bomb used in the Southside abortion clinic blast. U. S. Magistrate Judge T. Michael Putnam was ruling on a defense request that they be given access to 36 items attorneys believe could be favorable to Rudolph. Putnam denied some and approved others.

December 21, 2004
Judge Admits Rudolph’s Bible As Evidence
NBC13.com
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- In a new turn in the case against alleged abortion clinic bomber Eric Robert Rudolph, the defendant’s Bible and what's written in it may now be used in the case against him. Rudolph's attorneys challenged evidence seized from several search warrants executed at his North Carolina home and storage unit. A judge has said that evidence should be admissible, including the accused bomber's personal Bible.

December 15, 2004
Rudolph defense: Possible Link
Between Clinic, Station Bombs
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A judge told prosecutors to turn over information about a bomb found outside Birmingham police headquarters in 1996 after lawyers for Eric Rudolph raised the possibility Wednesday it was somehow linked to a deadly 1998 bomb blast at an abortion clinic just a few miles away. At the time, authorities said the police station bomb - which was safely disarmed - was similar to the bomb that killed a woman at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, a blast in which Rudolph is charged. No one was ever charged with planting the police station bomb. Arguing that prosecutors should be forced to turn over additional information gathered by police about abortion protests and opponents in Birmingham, defense lawyer Judy Clarke said the lack of evidence linking Rudolph with the pro-life movement in Birmingham was "a gaping hole" in the government's case against the North Carolina man.

December 05, 2004
Eric Rudolph defense questions sketch
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Defense lawyers want to know if the government was worried that a 1998 sketch of fugitive bombing suspect Eric Rudolph made him look too much like Jesus. The defense lawyers' request was based on a government behavioral assessment of the then-fugitive dated July 26, 1998, six months after the abortion clinic bombing. The defense quoted the assessment as saying that a composite sketch of a long-haired, bearded Rudolph "makes him appear handsome and sympathetic."

November 15, 2004
Lawyers Believe Rudolph Falsely Accused
Crime and Punishment / Crime.About.com
Attorneys for Eric Rudolph, facing trial for the bombing of an abortion clinic in Alabama, are trying to gain access to evidence the government has against him in another bombing, because they believe it will help in their case in Birmingham. The defense believes the Atlanta evidence will show that Rudolph has been falsely accused as the Atlanta bomber, who killed one person and injured several others during the 1996 Olympics, and may indicate he has also been falsely accused in the Birmingham bombing.

November 14, 2004
Atlanta evidence an issue
in case against Rudolph
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The first trial of accused serial bomber Eric Rudolph will focus on a trail of clues between Birmingham and North Carolina, but evidence from three Atlanta-area bombings is at the center of a dispute in the Alabama case. In what seems a reversal of roles, prosecutors say they don't plan to tell Birmingham jurors about the Atlanta explosions in which Rudolph is charged, including the deadly bombing at the 1996 Olympics. Defense attorneys are pursuing the Atlanta evidence for possible use in his Birmingham trial. "The government doesn't plan to introduce evidence from the Atlanta bombing because it is irrelevant in our case in Birmingham," U.S. Attorney Alice Martin said. The defense, however, says that the Atlanta evidence might show that Rudolph has been falsely depicted as the Atlanta bomber and could "bolster an argument of lingering doubt on the Birmingham offenses."

November 5, 2004
Rudolph lawyers claim
contamination by feds
The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Lawyers for serial bombing suspect Eric Rudolph tried to show Thursday that federal agents -- not Rudolph -- may have spread traces of explosives from a deadly abortion clinic bombing in Alabama to his North Carolina home. Prosecutors have said that eyewitnesses and traces of explosives found in Rudolph's home, including on a towel and chair, link him to the 1998 Birmingham bombing that killed a police officer and critically injured a nurse. However, under defense questioning during an evidentiary hearing Thursday, agents Richard Strobel and Gregory P. Czarnopys of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives both said they did not swab their hands to check for such traces before searching Rudolph's trailer. Czarnopys also testified that the explosive element used in the bomb and found in Rudolph's home was easily spread.

October 12, 2004
Prosecutors: Rudolph arrested properly
By Val Walton / The Birmingham News
Eric Robert Rudolph was arrested May 31, 2003, in Murphy, N.C., after eluding law enforcement for five years. He is jailed without bond in the Jefferson County jail awaiting trial in May on charges he bombed a Southside abortion clinic, killing an off-duty police officer and critically injuring a nurse. Rudolph has pleaded not guilty. In a Sept. 20 motion, Rudolph's lawyers question the 41 minutes of Rudolph's detention after he was found at 3:30 a.m. among milk crates. He was ordered at gunpoint to lie on the ground and was handcuffed. His lawyers question whether police actions were legal and if any statements he made should be kept out of his trial. The government disputes the defense claims.

October 7, 2004
Officials: Rudolph bought
supplies after link to blast
By Val Walton / The Birmingham News
[Prosecutors say] one day after the bombing on Birmingham's Southside, Eric Rudolph learned through news coverage that he had been linked to the blast that killed an off-duty police officer and seriously injured a clinic nurse. Less than an hour later he was eating a Burger King dinner; 15 minutes later he headed to a supermarket and bought 14 containers of oatmeal, nine cans of green beans, seven packs of batteries, eight containers of nuts, eight cans of tuna fish, soap, and eight containers of raisins. Federal prosecutors outlined his actions in a filing as they try to show that evidence seized during searches of Rudolph's property should be used against him. They contend he gave up any rights to privacy when he fled into the North Carolina wilderness.

October 5, 2004
Judge to review FBI notes in
Alabama abortion clinic bombing case
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- In a victory for Eric Rudolph, a federal judge said he would review FBI agent notes in a deadly abortion clinic bombing to determine if there's any merit to defense claims of inconsistencies in witnesses statements. U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith, in a decision released Tuesday, agreed to look at the handwritten notes that were used to compile typed witness statements challenged by attorneys defending Rudolph against death penalty charges. Referring to 15 alleged prosecution inconsistencies cited by the defense - which claimed those problems are just the "tip of an iceberg" - Smith said he would look at the agents' notes in his office before deciding whether Rudolph's lawyers should also be allowed to see the notes.

September 21, 2004
Motion to suppress evidence
filed in Rudolph case
By Henry Schuster / CNN.com
Lawyers for accused bomber Eric Robert Rudolph asked a judge Monday to suppress evidence gathered during his arrest. In making their argument to suppress, Rudolph's attorneys filed motions which said his capture was "the result of an illegal detention and arrest."

September 15, 2004
Judge asked to block Rudolph evidence
By Val Walton / The Birmingham News
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Eric Robert Rudolph wants a federal judge to block any evidence investigators seized from a North Carolina mobile home and storage shed because he contends the search warrants weren't specific. Rudolph's lawyers argued in court papers made available to the public Tuesday that any items seized not be used at trial because the warrants were too general and violate the Fourth Amendment which protects people from unreasonable search and seizure. The filing did not detail what items were seized from Cal's Mini Storage, Unit #91, on Old Peachtree Road in Marble, N.C., and a single-wide mobile home on Caney Creek Road in Murphy, N.C. Searches were authorized by the warrants in March 1998.

August 23, 2004
Rudolph Defense Gets More
Time in Alabama Bombing Case
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A federal judge on Monday gave attorneys for alleged serial bomber Eric Rudolph more time to draft a plan for fighting charges in a fatal attack on an abortion clinic. U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith gave Rudolph's legal team until Sept. 15 to reveal their defense against charges that Rudolph planted a bomb outside a Birmingham women's clinic on Jan. 29, 1998, killing a police officer and critically injuring a nurse.

August 15, 2004
Rudolph Attorneys Attack Anonymous Jury Trial
By Val Walton / The Birmingham News
Defense lawyers for Eric Robert Rudolph say they don't want their client tried before a totally anonymous jury on charges he bombed a Southside abortion clinic. In a Friday court filing, lawyers wrote that Rudolph has a right to a jury of known individuals and is entitled to receive a verdict, not from anonymous decision makers, but from people he can name as responsible for their actions. "This right needs to be even more scrupulously honored in the context of this case, where a defendant's life hangs in the balance," the filing said.

August 9, 2004
Lead Attorney for Rudolph Withdraws From Case
From Staff and Wire Reports / Asheville Citizen-Times
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The lead attorney for alleged serial bomber Eric Rudolph was unexpectedly removed from the case at his own request Monday, and a judge appointed a high- profile California lawyer and Asheville, N.C., native to take over. Richard Jaffe of Birmingham, a death penalty specialist who was appointed to represent Rudolph shortly after his arrest last year, was granted permission to withdraw from the defense along with two other members of his firm and a third local lawyer.

July 15, 2004
Judge Refuses Bid to Review Secret Filings by Rudolph attorneys
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Federal prosecutors lost a bid to reduce the amount of secrecy in the death penalty case against Eric Rudolph when a judge ruled Thursday against their request to see documents filed under seal by his lawyers. In a terse, four-sentence order, U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith rejected prosecutors' motion that he review dozens of documents filed secretly by the defense and release any they should be allowed see. Smith said he and a federal magistrate judge were "fully capable" of monitoring items filed by Rudolph's lawyers. "The vast majority of the ex parte filings are administrative in nature, and do not concern the government," Smith wrote.

July 9, 2004
Federal Judge Denies Rudolph Defense Access to Notes
The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM (AP) -- A federal judge Friday refused Eric Rudolph's request to see the original notes taken by agents who investigated a fatal abortion clinic bombing, a potential blow to defense lawyers looking for holes in the prosecution's case. In his ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge T. Michael Putnam said the government already has given the defense hundreds of thousands of pages of formal witness statements. The defense claimed it needed the notes because the witness statements it has received — typically typed on a standard FBI form — contained inconsistencies that could only be resolved by seeing the agents' original work. Even without seeing the notes, Rudolph's lawyers are free to use apparent inconsistencies in court, Putnam said. "It is nothing more than speculation to assert that the rough notes, from which the produced records were generated, would reveal additional inconsistencies beyond those already revealed," Putnam wrote.

July 2, 2004
Rudolph Defense Attacks Claims From Government
The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Lawyers for Eric Rudolph attacked a key prosecution witness Friday in their first detailed response to charges that the serial bombing suspect set off a deadly explosion outside an abortion clinic. The defense filing also focused on evidence that someone else could have committed the 1998 bombing at the clinic in Birmingham. "They have no direct evidence that Eric Rudolph placed the explosive device at the clinic," the filing said. In the filing, the defense said a key government witness, a college dormitory resident referred to only as "J.H.," gave statements about tracking a man believed to be Rudolph from the clinic the morning of the blast. But those statements were filled with "inconsistencies and discrepancies," Rudolph's attorneys said.

June 29, 2004
Park Bomb Victims Can Sue Olympic Organizers, Court Rules
CNN.com
ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Georgia's Supreme Court ruled Monday that victims of the 1996 Olympic Park bombing, who claim inadequate security contributed to the tragedy, can continue with a lawsuit against the organizers of the games. In a unanimous decision, justices upheld a state appeals court ruling, which found that the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games was not immune from liability under state law. The case now goes back to the trial court.

June 24, 2004
Judge Postponed Rudolph Trial Until Next Year
Jury selection to begin March 2005
By Henry Schuster -- Senior Producer / CNN.com
A federal judge postponed until next year the trial of accused bomber Eric Rudolph, which had been set to begin August 2. U.S. District Court Judge Lynwood Smith on Thursday released an order setting jury selection to begin in March, with the expectation that opening statements will begin May 24. Also earlier this week, the judge said that he preferred not to sequester the jury, but would listen to arguments about protecting the identity of jurors. Smith said he expects the trial to last two to three months.

June 22, 2004
Bomb suspect's lawyers drop
push to get trial out of B'ham
By David Holden / The Huntsville Times
Serial bombing suspect Eric Robert Rudolph will be tried in Birmingham as planned, but the jury pool will come from all of North Alabama instead of just the Birmingham area. With that compromise reached in a hearing in Huntsville this morning, Rudolph's attorneys withdrew a motion requesting that his trial be moved outside the Northern District of the federal court in Alabama. Rudolph appeared with his five lawyers in the Huntsville federal court building today, escorted in just before 7:30 a.m. under tight security. Rudolph was pale, clean shaven and dressed in a navy blue blazer, red tie, white shirt and gray slacks when he took his seat in the courtroom.

June 22, 2004
Deal Reached on Trial for Eric Rudolph
ABC News
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- A federal judge approved a plan Tuesday to try serial bombing suspect Eric Rudolph in Birmingham but pick jurors from throughout northern Alabama, instead of just a three-county area around the state's largest city. U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith approved the joint proposal that had been agreed to by defense attorneys and federal prosecutors. Rudolph had been seeking a change of venue. Rudolph told the judge he understood and approved of the agreement to try him in Birmingham but expand the jury pool. Rudolph is scheduled for trial Aug. 2. Smith said he will rule soon on a defense motion to delay the trial for as long as a year.

June 18, 2004
Prosecutors Seek to Keep Bombing Trial in Birmingham
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, GA.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Prosecutors asked a judge Friday to keep Eric Rudolph's first trial in Birmingham, disputing defense claims that media coverage of a deadly abortion clinic bombing made a fair trial impossible. The government's request was filed ahead of a hearing planned for next week on a defense request to move the case outside of north Alabama. Separately, prosecutors also asked a court to make defense attorneys file more of their motions in open court rather than as sealed documents available only to the judge and the defense.

January 31, 2004
Rudolph Defense Seeks Change of Venue
CNN.com
Attorneys for accused bomber Eric Rudolph late Friday filed a change of venue motion, arguing their client cannot get a fair trial in Birmingham, Alabama, or anywhere in the northern district of that state. The defense team said that since the Birmingham bombing took place on January 29, 1998, there had been such overwhelming media coverage -- some of which it called "sensationalistic and based, in part, on inaccurate information from law enforcement" -- that it made finding a fair and impartial jury impossible.

July 28, 2003
Federal Judge Delays Eric Rudolph Trial Until 2004
CNN.com
ATLANTA, Georgia -- The trial of accused bomber Eric Robert Rudolph has been delayed at least until the beginning of 2004, according to an order from the trial judge. The order issued Monday by Federal District Judge C. Lynwood Smith in Birmingham says "it is unreasonable to expect counsel for either party to be ready [for] trial in August, much less during calendar year 2003."

July 12, 2003
Eric Rudolph Pleads Not Guilty
By Bob Johnson / The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM -- Serial bombing suspect Eric Robert Rudolph pleaded innocent Friday to a new indictment in a fatal abortion clinic blast that would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty. That wording was not included in the original indictment to which Rudolph pleaded innocent a little more than a month ago. Although local prosecutors have indicated they want to seek the ultimate punishment, the final decision rests with Attorney General John Ashcroft.

July 11, 2003
Prosecutors Can Seek Rudolph's Death
By Jon Ostendorff /Asheville Citizen Times
A federal judge on Friday said he would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Eric Robert Rudolph. The hearing was one of many legal formalities in the Rudolph case and the U.S. attorney general still will make the final call on the death penalty, a former federal prosecutor said. Rudolph, who has been in jail in Birmingham, Ala., since June 2., attended the hearing despite indications from his attorneys and court papers that he would remain in jail.

June 5, 2003
U.S. Attorney To Ask For Death In Rudolph Case
By Taylor Bright / Times Record News
The U.S. Attorney's office will ask for the death penalty in the case of Eric Rudolph. Alice Martin, U.S. attorney for the northern district of Alabama, said Wednesday her office will seek the death penalty in the bombing case. "We will make application seeking the death penalty and send it to the Department of Justice next week," Martin said.

June 3, 2003
Rudolph Pleads Innocent to Abortion Clinic Bombing
USA Today
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Olympic bombing suspect Eric Rudolph pleaded innocent Tuesday in a deadly blast at a Birmingham abortion clinic. Rudolph, wearing a red jail shirt and pants with his feet shackled but his hands free, pleaded innocent before federal Magistrate Judge Michael Putnam for the 1998 bombing of New Woman All Women Health Care, where an off-duty police officer was killed and a clinic nurse critically injured. He could face the death penalty.

June 2, 2003
Rudolph to Be Tried in Alabama
By Paul Nowell / The Associated Press
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Eric Rudolph was taken to this western North Carolina city under heavy guard Monday to face accusations that he was the Olympic park bomber, and in Washington, authorities announced he would be tried first in another bombing in Alabama. He arrived at the federal courthouse at about 8:30 a.m., surrounded by 40 heavily armed officers. Authorities said it was decided that he would face trial first in Birmingham, Ala., where an abortion clinic was bombed in 1998, then in Atlanta, site of the 1996 Olympic bombing and other blasts linked to Rudolph.

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