| Klansman's trial postponed 04/11/2001 Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A judge cited medical reasons Tuesday in indefinitely postponing the murder trial of an aging Ku Klux Klansman charged in a 1963 church bombing that killed four black girls.
But Circuit Judge James Garrett refused to throw out the case and said jury selection in the trial of a second ex-Klansman would begin Monday as scheduled.
Judge Garrett's decision to delay the trial of longtime suspect Bobby Frank Cherry, 71, raises the possibility that the Mabank, Texas, resident may never be brought to trial in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
"The main issue is mental competency, whether his mental state is such that he can assist his lawyers," said prosecutor Doug Jones, who was given permission to get an independent evaluation of Mr. Cherry.
"When you are dealing in a case this old and with a defendant who is over 70 years old, you expect that things like this could come up," Mr. Jones said.
Mr. Cherry's lawyer, Mickey Johnson, said his client had mental and physical problems that were confirmed in evaluations ordered by the judge at the request of the defense.
Mr. Cherry's co-defendant, Thomas Blanton Jr., 62, of Birmingham, also requested a delay. His attorney, John Robbins, said the postponement of Mr. Cherry's trial would be "a bombshell in the community." The judge said he will consider the request.
Mr. Cherry and Mr. Blanton are accused of helping plant a powerful bomb that exploded outside the church on Sept. 15, 1963, a Sunday morning. The church had been a downtown gathering place for demonstrators seeking an end to segregation laws.
Denise McNair, 11; and Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson, all 14, died in a basement restroom.
It was one of the most horrific crimes of the civil-rights era, coming just months after police in Birmingham used dogs and firehoses to drive back black marchers.
An investigation of the case in the 1970s resulted in the conviction of Robert Edward Chambliss, who died in prison in 1985 while serving a life term. A fourth suspect, Herman Cash, is dead.
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