Time for justice in Birmingham

In the heyday of the civil rights movement, Blacks watched in horror as all-white juries set free white supremacists and their allies guilty of threatening, beating and murdering those who wanted basic human rights and their dignity respected.

The ghosts of those decisions reappeared July 18 in a Birmingham, Ala., courtroom, when a judge decided a 71-year-old former Klansman was not mentally competent to stand trial for the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. The bomb blast killed four innocent little girls. The church was targeted because it was a rallying point for civil rights activists.

The judge blamed Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure, saying it required that after a defense team presents evidence that the accused is mentally incompetent, the prosecution must prove otherwise. In the case of Bobby Frank Cherry, prosecutors failed to meet the burden of proof, he said.

Mr. Cherry, one of four men accused in the bombing, was judged by two separate sets of physicians, who agreed that he suffered from dementia, but disagreed on his mental capability. In early August, another hearing to determine how to evaluate Mr. Cherry will be held.

Once again, it appears that the bar of justice is raised when it comes to even attempting to try a white person for the death of Black people.

The Alabama court says it can�t try Mr. Cherry, but courts around the country are rejecting defense attorney arguments in cases where mentally retarded Black men and juveniles are accused of capital crimes.

Mississippi does not ban execution of the mentally retarded, and, according to one protester outside the courtroom July 18, the state has prosecuted and executed six mentally retarded Black men. Thirty-six of 66 inmates on death row in Mississippi are Black, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Twenty-one states allow execution of the mentally retarded. When President Clinton made his first run for the White House, pleas that a Black man on Arkansas death row weren�t enough to stop the Democratic governor from allowing the execution.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Texas has executed six mentally retarded inmates since 1976. Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Virginia have each put four mentally retarded inmates to death. While South Carolina has executed three.

Lawyers who say execution of the mentally retarded is cruel and unusual punishment will argue their case this fall in the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the case of Bobby Frank Cherry, it is also important to note that those who are calling for him to stand trial include the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, who played an important role in Birmingham�s civil rights battles, and Rev. Abraham Woods, the president of the local Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Neither of these men, who are leaders in the fight against racism, are calling for vengeance. They are calling for justice. Justice denied for nearly 30 years, that has allowed killers of Black victims to live out their lives in peace, or face prosecution at the end of their lives.

Justice means you get what you deserve and the victims, their families and all those scarred by 1960s racial violence deserve to have the accused go to court. Justice has been delayed and denied for far too long in Birmingham.

FinalCall.com