Defiantly Unrepentant Eric Rudolph Sentenced To Life In Prison

Monday in Birmingham, Alabama, a judge sentenced abortion clinic bomber Eric Rudolph to life imprison without parole. As the sentence was handed down, Rudolph jabbed his finger in the air and forcefully delivered a speech to the assembled crowd. "Children are disposed of at will," the 38-year old Rudolph said. "The state is no longer the protector of the innocents."

Rudolph’s victims had their chance in court to speak, calling the anti-abortion vigilante a "cowardly monster" and recounting in detail the 1998 abortion clinic bombing Rudolph orchestrated that devastated their lives. Rudolph set off a remote-controlled bomb that killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse. Emily Lyons, the nurse wounded by his bomb, said that Rudolph’s actions weren’t brave and courageous, they were cowardly. "When it was your turn to face death you weren't so brave again," Lyons said bitterly, occasionally glancing over at Rudolph. "You want to see a monster; all you have to do is look in the mirror." When the bomb exploded that day, Lyons was wounded by flying nails and other shrapnel planted inside it. As a result of her injuries, she has undergone 21 operations, lost her left eye, and has numerous scars on her arms and legs. She is no longer able to work. However, during her statement in court she said that Rudolph’s actions failed to deter her or alter the work of the women's clinic. "I faced five pounds of dynamite and hundreds of nails yet I survived," she said. "Do I look afraid? You damaged my body, but you did not create the fear you sought."

The bombing, which took place at the New Woman All Women clinic, also killed police officer Robert Sanderson, who was off-duty and standing outside the clinic. Sanderson’s widow appeared in court to face her husband’s killer, but she turned her back to Rudolph as she spoke to the courtroom. During her statement, she said that she will never forget the look on her son's face when she told him his father was gone. "I want to tell you there is no punishment in my opinion great enough for Eric Rudolph. When Eric Rudolph leaves this earth and has to face final judgment, I'm going to leave the final judgment in God's hand," she said. Rudolph, seated at the defense table, did not look at Sanderson, but nodded in agreement.

Rudolph’s sentencing was carried out under a plea bargain where he pled guilty to four bombings—the Birmingham abortion clinic, the blast at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics that killed one woman and injured more than 100 other people, and two 1997 bombings at an abortion clinic and a gay bar in Atlanta. Next month, he will be handed two more life terms for the other attacks, making his total sentence three consecutive life terms. Standing in the courtroom wearing a red jumpsuit and shacked at the ankles, Rudolph actually seemed proud of his acts of terror. "What they did was participate in the murder of 50 children a week," he said. "Abortion is murder and because it is murder I believe deadly force is needed to stop it." Well, thanks to the American justice system, a vicious criminal who used "deadly force" to murder and maim ordinary people just doing their jobs will now be treated to three square meals a day, free health care, and lots of TV. That doesn’t sound like justice.