MAY 1, 2001
A jury convicted Thomas Blanton of taking part in the Ku Klux Klan’s 1963 bombing of a Birmingham church that killed four girls, and he was given four life sentences — one for each girl murdered.
After the verdict was announced, U.S. Attorney Doug Jones announced, “Justice delayed is still justice, and we have it in Birmingham, Alabama.”
Jones told the story of the conviction of both Blanton and Bobby Cherry in his memoir, “Bending Toward Justice.”
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