Rudolph, Eric - Atlanta Olympic bomber spends l...
Bomber Eric Rudolph says he's writing a book, solicits investigative records for cover art
Eric Rudolph, at left, wearing vest, is escorted from federal courthouse in Huntsville, Ala., March 29, 2005, following a court appearance. Now in federal prison serving a life sentence, Rudolph has said he is writing his autobiography. He is responsible for deadly bombings in Birmingham and Atlanta. Emily Lyons was critically injured in the 1998 blast outside a Birmingham abortion clinic where she worked as a nurse, off-duty Officer Robert Sanderson was killed. (Huntsville Times file photo)
ATLANTA — Eric Rudolph, who was convicted of bombing Atlanta's Centennial Park during the 1996 summer Olympics, has announced plans to write an autobiography and is looking to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for help with the cover art.Atlanta station WSB-TV reported Rudolph has asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to hand over two suspect sketches their forensic artist drew of him during the manhunt that followed the bombing. The television stations reported Rudolph plans to use one of the sketches on the cover of the book.
The U.S. Justice Department released sketches of Eric Robert Rudolph in July 1998, left, and October 1998. At the time Rudolph was charged with an abortion clinic bombing in Birmingham, and three bombings in the Atlanta area beginning with the fatal bombing at Centennial Olympic Park in 1996. (File photos)
In 1998, Rudolph set off a bomb at a Birmingham abortion clinic that killed off-duty police officer Robert Sanderson and severely wounded a nurse, Emily Lyons. He pleaded guilty to federal charges related to that attack and others and was sentenced to life in prison.Since Rudolph asked for the sketches through an open records inquiry, the agency has no choice but to honor his request.
GBI spokesman John Bankhead told the television station it is unfortunate that public records regulations can be used in such a way.
Emily Lyons is shown in this July 14, 2005, file photo. She was severely injured in Eric Rudolph's 1998 bombing of an Alabama abortion clinic on Birmingham's southside. (AP file photo)
"Three people died as a result of his actions. It's regrettable that we have to comply, but we will," Bankhead said. U.S. Attorney Sally Yates says although Rudolph has the right to tell his story, he has no right to profit from it."It is a specific provision of his plea agreement that if he were to write a book and to make any money that, that money is immediately assignable to the victims of his crimes," Yates said.
"I only draw what I draw to help victims," said Georgia Bureau of Investigation sketch artist Marla Lawson. "He has a lot of nerve," she said.
Rudolph is currently housed in the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Co. The facility houses inmates who require the tightest possible controls, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/01/birmingham_abortion_clinic_bom.html