Posted on 07/17/2005 2:36:55 PM PDT by Crackingham
Emily Lyons, critically injured in a 1998 blast outside a Birmingham abortion clinic, has a message for confessed bomber Eric Rudolph: His crimes only made her stronger.
"You did not shut the clinic down. You did not shut me down," said Lyons, who planned to testify Monday at Rudolph's sentencing to the first of four life terms for deadly bombings in Birmingham and Atlanta.
Rudolph, who remained defiant when he admitted setting the bombs and has only discussed his reasons for the blasts in written statements, will have his own chance to speak at Monday's sentencing. Defense lawyers didn't return calls seeking comment on whether Rudolph did plan to speak. He also faces sentencing later in Atlanta.
Rudolph, 38, pleaded guilty in April to setting off a remote-controlled bomb that maimed Lyons, a nurse, and killed police officer Robert "Sande" Sanderson outside the New Woman All Women clinic on the morning of Jan. 29, 1998. Sanderson's wife and son also could make statements at the hearing Monday.
Under a plea agreement that let Rudolph avoid a possible death penalty, Rudolph confessed to the Alabama bombing and to the bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics that killed one woman and injured more than 100. He also admitted setting off bombs at an abortion clinic and gay bar in Atlanta in 1997. He was captured in May 2003 after more than five years as a fugitive in the mountains of western North Carolina.
Under the agreement, federal judges in Birmingham and Atlanta will sentence him to four life terms without parole. Rudolph's sentencing in Georgia is set for Aug. 22, and victims of the Atlanta bombings will have a chance to speak then.
In a statement distributed after his guilty pleas, Rudolph portrayed himself as a devout Christian and said the bombings were motivated by his hatred of abortion and a federal government that lets it continue.
"The fact that I have entered an agreement with the government is purely a tactical choice on my part and in no way legitimates the moral authority of the government to judge this matter or to impute guilt," Rudolph said in the statement.
Eric Rudolph was Top Ten. I doubt that the resources spent on him were a whole lot more than the other nine.
Regardless, there are thousands of FBI agents.
America did not have to choose between catching Muslim terrorists or Eric Rudolph.
It din't have to, but it did.
That's BS.
There's no evidence that shows that 9-11 happened because too many FBI agents were hunting Rudolph.
Then they are doubly fit for hell, just as those "moderate" Muslims who give a wink and look the other way when those among them speak of committing atrocities in the name of their false god.
I thought that, after investigating the Birmingham clinic bombings, authorities determined the two explosions were detonated by remote control. That is to say he was on the scene and aware that the security guard and the nurse were there. The bomb was made of dynamite and nails, so I think that it is a pretty safe bet that he meant to kill people. I remember seeing film of the second explosion on TV, and later hearing that a man in a wig was seen by a few people hiding behind a tree not far from the clinic. In fact that is what led to his being identified.
Why did he bomb the Olympics?
has that ever been clarified by him?
Where's Whitey Bulger btw?
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