Appeals court upholds life sentence for man who bombed Atlanta Olympics, bar, and abortion clinics

ATLANTA (TCD) — An appeals court upheld the life sentence of a man who pleaded guilty to bombing the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and an abortion clinic six months later, saying he waived his right to appeal when he entered the plea in the first place.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals published an opinion Feb. 12 announcing Eric Rudolph will remain in prison for the rest of his life for the deadly bombings, which killed four people and injured over 150.

Rudolph pleaded guilty in 2005 to six federal counts of arson and four counts of use of a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence. By entering the plea, Rudolph was able to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced to consecutive six life terms, plus 120 years in federal prison.

On July 26, 1996, Rudolph left a pipe bomb under a bench near the stage at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta where over 50,000 people had gathered. The bomb was made of three plumbing pipes covered in 5 pounds of 3-inch nails as shrapnel.

Early on July 27, 1996, the bomb went off and “instantly” killed 44-year-old Alice Hawthorne. She had traveled to Atlanta with her daughter to watch the Olympics.  A cameraman reportedly suffered a fatal heart attack during the explosion, which injured over 100 people.

Rudolph opted for Centennial Olympic Park because “the whole world would be watching.”

The explosions didn’t stop there. Six months later, on July 27, 1997, Rudolph attacked an abortion clinic in Sandy Springs. Fifty people were injured during that bombing. A month later, he detonated two bombs at a nightclub in Midtown Atlanta and wounded five people. Rudolph planted an explosive at a Birmingham, Alabama, family planning clinic on Jan. 29, 1998. A Birmingham Police officer was killed and a nurse was critically injured.

Following the nightclub bombing, he sent letters to local Atlanta news stations “claiming responsibility for the bombings on behalf of the ‘Army of God.'” He said the first bomb that went off was for “supporters of abortion and homosexuality,” while the second one was targeted at federal agents.

Rudolph was publicly identified as the bombing suspect following the 1998 Birmingham attack, which resulted in him fleeing to the mountains of North Carolina. He was arrested five years later, in May 2003.

Rudolph revealed following his arrest that he buried more than 250 pounds of dynamite in western North Carolina, including a fully constructed bomb with a detonator. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI located the bomb and safely destroyed it.

In their reasoning for rejecting Rudolph’s appeal, the justices wrote Rudolph’s plea agreement says he “voluntarily and expressly waives, to the maximum extent permitted by federal law, the right to appeal his conviction and sentence in this case, and the right to collaterally attack his sentence in any post-conviction proceeding.”

Rudolph argued his arson conviction was no longer considered a violent crime under federal law, so he should not have to serve life in prison. The opinion says Rudolph was going after his conviction, rather than the sentencing length, which was set in the plea agreement. The court, however, argued, “Though he claims to be challenging the validity of his underlying convictions, the relief Rudolph sought in the district courts was tied entirely to his sentences.”

According to the opinion, Rudolph also argued he is “actually innocent” because “someone else, theoretically, could be convicted for setting a fire on their own property, or for committing arson with recklessness rather than intent, neither of which would qualify as violent crimes.” The court, however, called the argument “preposterous.”

The conclusion of the opinion said, “Eric Rudolph is bound by the terms of his own bargain. He negotiated to spare his life, and in return he waived the right to collaterally attack his sentences in any post-conviction proceedings. We will not disrupt that agreement.”

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