Rudolph Prosecutors Want to Show Jury Scene of Clinic Bombing
By Jay Reeves / The Associated Press
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- 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.
The requests came in a flurry of motions made public Wednesday ahead of the start of preliminary jury selection April 6. Testimony in his federal death penalty trial is not expected to being until weeks later.
Prosecutors say jurors would have an easier time understanding the case if they were allowed to see New Woman All Women Health Care Clinic, where a bomb went off in a grassy area near the entrance on Jan. 29, 1998, killing a police officer and critically injuring a nurse.
The government proposed letting the judge, jurors and attorneys ride to the scene in a bus, which could also take them down the residential streets where a witness said he followed a man after the blast, leading to Rudolph's identification and capture more than five years later.
"A view would assist the jury in understanding the topography of the route taken by the defendant, the witnesses' opportunity to observe the defendant and the relationship between the clinic's location and the area" where Rudolph's pickup truck was later spotted, prosecutors said.
Rudolph's lawyers had no immediate response, but they argued in a motion that flaws with a jury questionnaire mean the indictment against Rudolph should be thrown out. Among other things, the form asks whether jurors can understand English or have any physical or mental disabilities — questions the defense claimed make it unconstitutional.
A judge has overruled Rudolph's previous challenges of the charges.
Separately, the defense asked a court to make prosecutors hand over any information they gather about prospective jurors, including any criminal histories, voting preference and political party affiliations.
U.S. Attorney Alice Martin denied that prosecutors gather "rap sheets" on jurors or have access to information about their political leanings.
"The information we get on jurors is the same information they get," Martin said in an interview.
Rudolph could be sentenced to death if convicted in the abortion clinic bombing. He also is charged with the 1996 bombing at the Atlanta Olympics, which killed a woman, and bombings in the Atlanta area in 1997.
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Posted by Editor at March 16, 2005 03:55 PM
