BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Lawyers for serial bombing suspect 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.
In filings recently made public, Rudolph's lawyers asked a judge to hold a hearing on whether jurors in Rudolph's upcoming federal death penalty trial should be allowed to hear testimony by Carl R. McClary, a handwriting analyst with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. McClary matched Rudolph's handwriting with writing found on several documents and books including the Bible, according to the defense.
Prosecutors haven't filed documents stating whether they oppose a hearing. U.S. Attorney Alice Martin declined comment Friday, saying the goverment's written response was not due until next week.
Investigators and news reports have publicly tied Rudolph to the far-right Christian Identity movement — a claim his lawyers previously denied — and an agent testified last year he considered religion a motive for the deadly 1998 abortion clinic bombing in which Rudolph is awaiting trial in Birmingham.
Rudolph also is charged in the bombing that killed a woman at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and bombings outside an abortion clinic and a gay bar in Atlanta in 1997.
In a court document that provided the first glimpse of what could be crucial evidence in Rudolph's trial, prosecutors said the Bible found by agents in Rudolph's North Carolina trailer after the Birmingham bombing contained several handwritten notes that were important evidence.
Citing an example, prosecutors said the word "bombs" was printed in large letters in the margin beside Revelation 16:21, which was underlined. The passage, which many believe describes God's final judgment on a corrupt, immoral world, reads: "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."
Without addressing Rudolph's Bible specifically, the defense submitted sworn statements from Seton Hall University law professor Mark Denbeaux, who said a 1987 study showed that handwriting analysts and laypeople were about equal in their ability to match handwriting samples, reaching the right conclusion only 52 percent of the time.
The defense also wants a judge to throw out fingerprint evidence that prosecutors could use in a bid to link Rudolph to the Alabama bombing, and it contends an explosives-sniffing dog that helped in searches of Rudolph's trailer and storage shed was unreliable.
Held without bond, Rudolph is set for trial this spring in the clinic bombing, which killed an off-duty police officer and critically injured a nurse. Officials said Rudolph requested a Bible shortly after he arrived at the jail in Birmingham.
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Posted by Editor at January 14, 2005 06:55 PM
