BIRMINGHAM, Ala., May 22 — In the final trial stemming from one of the most notorious crimes of the civil-rights era, a former Ku Klux Klansman was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison Wednesday in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls, closing a pivotal chapter of the struggle after 29 years.
BOBBY FRANK CHERRY, 71, was the final suspect to face trial in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a gathering spot for blacks protesting segregation in the early 1960s.
Two other former Klansmen were tried in the bombing — Thomas Blanton Jr. was convicted last year and is serving life for the bombing, while Robert Chambliss was convicted of murder in 1977 and died in prison.
A fourth suspect, Herman Cash, died in 1994 without being charged.
The jury of nine whites and three blacks needed only about eight hours of deliberations before returning the guilty verdict after closing arguments ended Tuesday afternoon.
Asked by the judge whether he had any comment, Cherry stood, pointed at prosecutors and said: “This whole bunch lied all the way through this thing.”
“I told the truth,” he said. “I don’t know why I’m going to jail for nothing.”
City Counsel of the City of New York