Robert Chambliss

Robert Edward "Dynamite Bob" Chambliss (January 14, 1904 – October 29, 1985) was convicted in 1977 of murder for his role as co-conspirator in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963. Chambliss allegedly also firebombed the houses of several black families in Birmingham.

Investigation and conviction

A May 13, 1965 memo to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover identified Chambliss, Bobby Frank Cherry, Herman Frank Cash and Thomas E. Blanton, Jr as suspects in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

The investigation was originally closed in 1968; no charges were filed. Years later it was found that the FBI had accumulated evidence against the named suspects that had not been revealed to the prosecutors by order of J. Edgar Hoover. The files were used by Alabama attorney general Bill Baxley to reopen the case in 1971. In 1977 Chambliss was convicted of murder for the bombing and sentenced to several terms of life imprisonment. He died in prison in 1985, still proclaiming his innocence.

References

• Robert Edward Chambliss. (2009, March 9). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:09, March 14, 2009 [1]
• Clary, Mike (April 14, 2001) "Birmingham's Painful Past Reopened." Los Angeles Times