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Extremist will plead guilty in 3 Southern bomb attacks

AP | April 9 2005

Comment: Rudolph has been known to refer to "The New World Order" takeover of America. No doubt this will be escalated in the media as a way to castigate anyone who refers to a New World Order.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Eric Rudolph was once the ultimate anti-government extremist: He hunkered down in the woods of North Carolina and lived off the land for five years as federal agents carried out a massive manhunt to bring him to justice in a series of bombings in the late 1990s.

He became an almost mythic figure to fellow radicals, inspiring two country and Western songs and a T-shirt that bore the words "Run Rudolph Run."

But on Friday, authorities said Rudolph struck a plea deal with the government he loathed. He agreed to plead guilty to carrying out the blasts in a deal that spares him the possibility of the death penalty and ensures that he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

As part of the agreement, he provided authorities with the location of more than 250 pounds of dynamite buried in the mountains of western North Carolina.

Family members of bombing victims said they were angry that Rudolph will not get the death penalty, but said they grudgingly went along with the deal in part to protect others from the explosives.

"The many victims of Eric Rudolph's terrorist attacks . . . can rest assured that Rudolph will spend the rest of his life behind bars," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in a statement from Washington.

Rudolph, 38, is scheduled to admit his guilt Wednesday in court. Defense lawyer Bill Bowen did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Rudolph was charged with carrying out four blasts in Georgia and Alabama in the late 1990s that killed two people and injured more than 120.

One woman was killed and more than 100 people were injured in the Olympic blast, caused by a bomb in a backpack. In the next two years, he allegedly set off bombs at a lesbian nightclub in Atlanta and at two abortion clinics - one in Birmingham and one in Atlanta. The Birmingham attack killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse.

Rudolph then slipped away into the mountains, where the former soldier and survivalist eluded capture at the same time that he was on the FBI's list of 10 Most Wanted fugitives.

The manhunt stretched across 550,000 acres of Appalachian wilderness and at one time involved 200 agents.

He was captured in May 2003 after being seen scavenging for food near a grocery store trash bin in Murphy, N.C.

Investigators suspect that sympathizers in the countryside may have assisted Rudolph during his time on the run.

Linda Bourgeois, administrator at the Birmingham abortion clinic, said a couple of employees "jumped and down and screamed" in excitement over the news of the plea deal.

"We think it's a victory for all women everywhere," she said.

But Jeff Lyons, whose wife was left blind in one eye in the Alabama bombing, said he and his wife were "extremely disappointed" in the life sentences.

"As they say, let the punishment fit the crime. That was a death sentence," he said.

Lyons said he understood prosecutors' reasons for agreeing to a plea deal since Rudolph directed them to explosives - something that likely would not have happened had the case gone to trial.

The husband and daughter of Alice Hawthorne of Albany, Ga., who was killed in the Olympics bombing, said they reluctantly went along with the deal in part because it would protect others.

John Hawthorne and Fallon Stubbs said in a statement that they "would not want their unwillingness to support a plea bargain to result in the loss of life and/or serious injury to unsuspecting citizens who may come across the explosives."

Rudolph provided the location of more than 250 pounds of dynamite, including one fully constructed bomb with a detonator.

The Justice Department said the explosives were safely disposed of. The government said some of the explosives were found "relatively near populated areas."

Locals reported seeing a great deal of traffic earlier this week as agents in SUVs drove through secluded mountain areas. Then they saw plumes of smoke and felt the windows rattle as agents disposed of the explosives.

Charles Stone, a retired Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent who helped oversee the Rudolph bombing probe, said a life sentence may be a more fitting punishment for a man who thrived in the outdoors.

"He'll be caged for the rest of his life, and from a retribution aspect, that's probably worse than a death sentence for him," Stone said.

Jury selection in the Birmingham bombing case began this week.

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