Trial in ’63 Church Bombing Opens
Racial hatred and a desire to halt the civil rights movement led a Ku Klux Klansman to bomb a Birmingham church in 1963, killing four black girls, a federal prosecutor said on the opening day of the historic murder trial.
Thomas Blanton Jr.’s “hatred and hostility toward African Americans” provided the 62-year-old defendant with a motive to bomb the 16th Street Baptist Church, U.S. Atty. Doug Jones told a Birmingham court.
Blanton is charged with the murders of Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins, all age 14, and Denise McNair, 11, who died in the Sunday morning blast. He has pleaded not guilty.
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