Bending Toward Justice : The Birmingham Church Bombing That Changed the Course of Civil Rights (9781250201454) by Jones Doug

Author:Jones, Doug
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Macmillan

The Bomb

A potential loose end in our case was dispelling any doubt that a bomb caused the explosion. There was no physical evidence to prove absolutely that this was the case, so we had to be meticulous in presenting a scientific explanation to the jury.

To help the jury visualize the moment we brought in two eyewitnesses, Willie Byrd and Earline Tankersley, to detail the scene: shattered windows, mangled cars, structural devastation to the church and other buildings, and dust and debris everywhere.

To explain the cause of such mayhem, we called multiple experts, including local fire and utility authorities, who emphatically dismissed the possibility of a gas leak or any other source of detonation.

It was believed that dynamite, or TNT, was the explosive material used, even though in 1963 FBI lab tests of the debris could not affirmatively make that determination. However, with several manufacturing plants in the Birmingham area, dynamite was easy to obtain and was documented to be the explosive of choice for the Klan.

An ignition device was not found, despite statements in investigative documents about the existence of fishing line and a bobber that many speculated was used to fashion a drip detonator. With the absence of physical evidence, we needed to demonstrate that nothing other than a dynamite explosion could have caused the carnage. Assistant U.S. Attorney Posey prepared and coordinated that presentation.

“We talked about how to prove it, so I went to Quantico at the FBI lab with the crime scene photographs,” he said. “It was explained to us that a gas leak acts like a fireball and not like a shock wave like the detonation of dynamite.

“The debris that landed on the automobiles outside the church looked like crumpled paper, exactly what you would have with a bomb. Also, the windows that imploded in the buildings adjacent to the church also clearly, in the experts’ opinion, demonstrated that it was some type of dynamite explosion.”

FBI Special Agent Charles Killion, an explosives expert, testified that he was dispatched to Birmingham immediately upon receiving word of the blast. He coordinated the gathering of debris for testing and assessed the crater measuring five and a half feet across and two and a quarter feet deep created at the spot where the bomb exploded.

“There was extensive damage to the ladies’ lounge,” he told the court, describing the incident as “a high order explosion” consistent with a bomb.

To further demonstrate the point, FBI techs carried out an experiment, detonating ten pounds of TNT in an area littered with old cars. After the explosion, the damage to the vehicles looked very similar to the impact of the church bombing.

The FBI videoed the explosion, and we fought to get it into evidence. The defense objected vigorously, but Judge Garrett gave us the go-ahead as long as the vision was shown in real time (no slow-motion) and the audio muted. FBI tech Mark Whitworth explained the experiment to the jury.

Posey’s meticulous presentation of evidence and questioning of witnesses, together with the video, helped put what could have been a tricky issue for the prosecution to bed.

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