Bobby Frank Cherry

Bobby Frank Cherry (June 20, 1930 in Mineral Springs, Alabama - November 18, 2004 at Kilby Correctional Facility, Montgomery) was a white man convicted in 2002 for the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, which killed four African-American girls (Carol Robertson, 14, Cynthia Wesley, 14, Addie Mae Collins, 14, and Denise McNair, 11) and injured more than 20 others. The bomb had been placed near the girls restroom and detonated shortly before the service, when the restroom was full of girls preparing for choir. Cherry was a former truck driver, and resident of Texas at the time of his indictment.

Murder Trial for 16th St. Church Bombing

Cherry was originally intended to be tried at the same time (though not jointly) as fellow defendant Thomas Blanton. Cherry was able to successfully delay his trial by claiming health reasons had impaired his mind and would prevent him from assisting in his own defense. Blanton was convicted and Cherry was ultimately found to be mentally competent to stand trial. At his trial he denied involvement in the bombing as well as affiliation with the KKK, but was ultimately found to be guilty.

Cherry's son testified that he was a member of United Klans of America, a Ku Klux Klan group, and relatives and friends testified that he "bragged" about being part of the bombing and his ex-wife testified, "He said he lit the fuse."cite news | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61428-2004Nov18.html | title=Birmingham Bomber Bobby Frank Cherry Dies in Prison at 74 | publisher=Washington Post |date= 2004-11-19 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2007-09-18]

Additionally, secret tape recordings were presented as evidence. These were the tapes that the FBI had gathered in its immediate investigation after the bombing and had subsequently been buried and rediscovered in 1997 and ultimately lead to the prosecution of Blanton and Cherry. A third man who had been an associate of the men had been recruited by the FBI investigators at the time. He testified on the stand that his involvement with the KKK was more socially based than politically based (something that was very plausible at that time) and that the agents approached him and asked for his help. He stated that he initially declined but was shown post-mortem photos of the young girls and became ill and vomited. Deeply disturbed by what he had seen he agreed to help.

The informant's assistance came in the form of "honky-tonking" or going to numerous bars with Blanton and Cherry with a very large reel to reel tape recorder in the trunk recording their conversations. He additionally took thorough notes after these meetings and also when they met and spoke outside of his car. The informant testified that he was primarily friends with Blanton, but that Blanton was good friends with Cherry so he would join them sometimes when they went out.

The recordings primarily contained racist sentiment. Most significantly, one recording from the car raised the subject of the 16th St. church bombing. The men spoke of it with approval. Blanton begins to say something that sounds as if he is about to implicate himself and Cherry by bragging, but Cherry (who was lesser acquainted with the informant) sharply cuts him off saying, "now, this good old boy doesn't need to know about that" and laughs it off. The informant also reported other unrecorded overheard references to their involvement in the bombing.cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9907E1DE1139F935A25756C0A9649C8B63 | title=Man Says Dead Girls' Photos Led Him to Become Informer | publisher=New York Times |date= 2002-05-16 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2007-09-18]

Other evidence presented at his trial were videos of the same amount of explosives being demonstrated on a car in a field. The point of this was to show the force of the explosion at the church to counter the defense's suggestion that, though their client was not involved, that the purpose of the bomb may have been to scare the congregates without the intent to commit murder. The strategy behind this suggestion was that even if the jury concluded that he was involved with the crime, that they should not find him guilty of deliberate murder.

During the trial prosecutors "showed the jury a videotape of a white mob beating local civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth when he showed up to register his children at the all white Parker High School." At one point "Prosecutors froze the film as a grinning, slender white man with a bulbous nose, wavy hair and a cigarette dangling from his mouth -- unmistakably a grinning young Bobby Frank Cherry -- was seen slamming his fist into the minister's head after pulling what appeared to be a set of brass knuckles from his back pocket."

Through the trial, Cherry smiled and looked amused and could be seen joking with his lawyers and several supporters, not appearing to believe that the legal system which had explicitly protected him up to that point would send him to jail. He was convicted on four counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison where he died November 18, 2004 at the age of 74.

References

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/bobbyfcherry Bobby Frank Cherry's Official Web Site]