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Rudolph pleads guilty to Atlanta bombings
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In a proceeding that took more than an hour, Eric Robert Rudolph today pleaded guilty to setting off three bombs in Atlanta, including one at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Olympics.
“Because I believe that abortion is murder, I also believe that force is justified … in an attempt to stop it,” he said in a statement handed out by his lawyers.
The statement marked the first time he had ever offered a reason for the attacks.
“The purpose of the attack on July 27th (1996) was to confound, anger and embarrass the Washington government in the eyes of the world for its abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand,” Rudolph said in the statement, which quoted the Bible throughout.
“I am not anarchist. I have nothing against government or law enforcement in general. It is solely for the reason that this govt has legalized the murder of children that I have no allegiance to nor do I recognize the legitimacy of this particular government in Washington.”
Rudolph entered the courtroom on the 23rd floor of the Russell Federal Building in Atlanta wearing a gray suit and blue dress shirt open at the collar. He looked around the room, nodding and greeting members of his defense team, and appeared at ease as he rocked occasionally in his chair, flanked by his three court-appointed public defenders.
As in earlier court appearances during his two years in custody, Rudolph was unfailingly polite in his responses to U.S. District Court Judge Charles Pannell, who questioned Rudolph about whether he understood the agreement and was pleased with his lawyers.
“More than satisfied,” Rudolph replied as Pannell went through a long list of questions about his representation.
After prosecutors spent more than 30 minutes outlining their evidence in the bombings, Judge Pannell asked Rudolph a series of questions, including if he agreed the government could prove the allegations.
Before Rudolph could speak, one of his lawyers, federal defender Paul Kish, said Rudolph agreed a jury would find him guilty of the crimes, but that Rudolph was not agreeing to each piece of evidence being presented by the prosecution.
“We are not quarrelling that they can prove those things,” Kish said.
Pannell then asked Rudolph “Are you guilty of these charges?”
“I am,” said Rudolph.
Rudolph faces four consecutive life sentences plus 120 years for the charges he pleaded guilty to today.
Pannell said he would defer setting a sentencing date for Rudolph on the charges Rudolph pleaded guilty to in his courtroom until a pre-sentencing report is completed and all of the more than 120 victims have a chance to submit written statements or notify him that they would like to speak at Rudolph’s sentencing.
“I will notify the attorneys of the sentencing date,” Pannell said. “I don’t want to overlook or short-change any of the victims.”
Earlier today, U.S. Judge Lynnwood Smith in Birmingham, Ala., where Rudolph pleaded guilty to a bombing at an Alabama women’s clinic, set a sentencing date for July 18.
In a statement released after the plea, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said, “Eric Rudolph is guilty today. There will be no further delays in obtaining justice for the public and the many victims of his terrorist acts. Eric Rudolph is guilty forever more.”
Outside the Russell Federal Building following the hearing, Olympic Park bombing victim Fallon Stubbs, whose mother Alice Hawthorne died at the Centennial Olympic Park bombing, said she left the session pitying Rudolph.
“I really pity him,” she said. “I only wish he could have been brought up in the home that we were. He’s a product of the home he grew up in.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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