Two Men Convicted of Bombing Abortion Clinics on Christmas

A federal jury convicted two young men Wednesday of bombing three abortion clinics on Christmas Day, but cleared the wife of one and the fiancee of the other of all but a conspiracy charge.

Jurors deliberated 4 1/2 hours over two days before returning the verdicts to end an emotional nine-day trial that included testimony on everything from bomb-making to Scriptures.

No one was injured in the pre-dawn explosions at a clinic and two doctors’ offices, but the blasts caused an estimated $500,000 in damages.

Hugged Women

When the verdict was announced, defendants Matthew Goldsby and James Simmons, both 21, embraced the women. Goldsby’s fiancee, Kaye Wiggins, 18, and Simmons’ wife, Kathy, 19, both cried.

Outside the courtroom, jury foreman Frank Bocchino read a statement noting the decision “was based on the evidence and the law as presented to us,” and said the jurors’ “personal beliefs concerning religion and the abortion issue did not in any way influence us.”

The defense attorneys had likened the two men to “knights in shining armor” for opposing abortions, but a prosecutor called them terrorists.

The men face up to 65 years in prison but the maximum sentence for the women is five years. U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson set sentencing for May 30.

The men, jailed since their arrest nearly four months ago, were freed on their own recognizance pending sentencing. The women have been in their mothers’ custody since they were arrested.

‘Fools for Christ’

Wiggins’ lawyer, Paul Shimek, called the four “fools for Christ.” Another defense attorney, T. Patrick Monaghan, denied that the issue of abortion had been on trial.

“I don’t know about issues. I was just here to defend Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer,” said Monaghan, who throughout the trial portrayed the defendants as the “best of American innocence.”

U.S. Atty. W. Thomas Dillard concluded that the defendants were terrorists who ignored the law.

“We do not need a terrorist branch of government that obeys what laws it wants and disobeys what laws it wants, all in the name of religion,” Dillard said.