The last living convicted bomber in one of the most notorious terrorist attacks in American history has been denied parole.
Thomas Blanton Jr., a former Ku Klux Klan member, avoided prosecution for 38 years in the deaths of four Black girls in Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963, before being convicted in 2001. Blanton was sentenced to life in prison for murdering Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, all 14, and Denise McNair, 11.
In the early morning of Sunday, September 15, 1963, four members of the United Klans of America—Blanton, Herman Frank Cash, Robert Edward Chambliss and Bobby Frank Cherry—planted at least 15 sticks under the steps of the church. At approximately 10:22 a.m., an anonymous man called the church and said “three minutes” before hanging up the phone. Less than one minute later, the bomb exploded, killing the four girls and injuring 22 others.
Although the FBI had concluded in 1965 that the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing had been committed by four known Ku Klux Klansmen and segregationists, no prosecutions ensued until 1977, when Robert Chambliss was convicted of the first degree murder of 11-year-old Carol Denise McNair. Thomas Blanton Jr. and Bobby Cherry were each convicted of four counts of murder and sentenced to life in 2001 and 2002 respectively. Herman Cash, who died in 1994, was never charged.
Doug Jones, the former U.S. attorney who convicted him, responded to Blanton’s parole request with, “Fact of the matter is, he bombed a house of God on Sunday morning and killed four children and needs to do the time for his crimes.”
He won’t be eligible again until 2021.