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Judge Admits Rudolph’s Bible As Evidence

Judge Admits Rudolph’s Bible As Evidence

'Bombs' Written In Margin Of Book Of Revelations
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.

Magistrate Judge Micheal Putnam said investigators did not overstep the boundaries of their search warrants, and the Bible and other evidence should be admissible.

Only days after the deadly bombing at a Birmingham clinic in January of 1998, FBI agents seized loads of evidence from Rudolph's trailer in Murphy, N.C. -- items like guns, a wig and a black Bible.

Last month, Rudolph's attorneys challenged some of that evidence in court, claiming it exceeded the scope of the search warrants. One of the contested pieces of evidence was the black Bible. They argued the book was irrelevant to a bombing case.

But prosecutors said investigators confiscated it because they believed the bombing could be religiously motivated.

In a filing late Thursday, prosecutors highlighted a quotation from the Book of Revelations in Rudolph's Bible:

“And there fell upon man a great hail storm out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the hail thereof was exceedingly great.” Prosecutors said Rudolph underlined the quotation and wrote the word “bombs” in large letters in the margin.

Putnam's decision is only a recommendation to the trial judge in the case. Judge Lynwood Smith will make a final ruling at a later date on what evidence is admissible.

Posted by Editor at December 21, 2004 07:28 AM