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Rudolph pleads not guilty to Birmingham bombingJudge: August 4 trial date likely to change
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (CNN) -- Eric Robert Rudolph, the serial bombing suspect who eluded authorities for five years in the mountains of North Carolina, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of bombing a Birmingham women's clinic in 1998. Rudolph, 36, was brought into the Hugo L. Black U.S. Courthouse in shackles, but authorities removed them for the 20-minute hearing. Wearing a red jail jumpsuit, Rudolph sat between his two attorneys, staring intently at Magistrate Judge T. Michael Putnam for almost the entire hearing. He responded to the judge politely five or six times, answering a series of questions with "yes" or "no." A detention hearing was set for next Tuesday. In addition, a tentative trial date was set for August 4, though Putnam acknowledged that date would likely change. The bombing of the clinic that performed abortions killed an off-duty police officer and critically wounded a nurse. The widow of Birmingham Police Officer Robert "Sande" Sanderson was in the courtroom. "I have the utmost confidence that we got the right man," said Felecia Sanderson. "I never gave up hope that he was alive and that I was going to be able to see him eye-to-eye." Defense attorney Richard Jaffe told reporters after the arraignment that it was going to take time to "sort out the facts," adding that "there's been a public perception painted of Eric Rudolph that's far from accurate. "Eric Rudolph is entitled to be presumed to be innocent," he said. "It's only fair for all of us to suspend judgment and allow the courtroom to test whether the proof is really proof, or whether it's more speculation and hearsay." Asked whether he would seek a change of venue, Jaffe said, "We'll look at it." Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale said he visited Rudolph early Tuesday and that, though the former fugitive was polite, he appeared frustrated about his status. "He said, 'I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's happening.' There appeared to be some frustration," Hale said. As investigators have begun examining how Rudolph eluded their grasp, CNN has learned that he survived five years in the North Carolina mountains by killing and eating turkeys, deer and bears, supplementing them with such items as acorns and salamanders. (Full story) (A loner and survivalist) Death penalty is possibleRudolph was captured early Saturday in Murphy, North Carolina, by a 21-year-old rookie police officer, Jeffrey Scott Postell, who found the fugitive hiding behind a Save-a-Lot grocery store. Rudolph initially told police his name was Jerry Wilson, but his fingerprints matched the suspect on the FBI's list of most-wanted fugitives. (Threats against deputy) The Army veteran arrived in Birmingham on Monday afternoon on a heavily guarded flight from North Carolina. He was placed in an isolation cell at the Jefferson County jail. Rudolph is accused of four bombings between 1996 and 1998 that killed two people and left scores wounded in Birmingham and Atlanta, Georgia. The attacks include the Centennial Olympic Park bombing, two bombings at women's clinics -- one in Birmingham and one in suburban Atlanta -- and one blast at a lesbian nightclub in Atlanta. (Gallery: Rudolph's alleged crimes) Rudolph emerged as a suspect after the Birmingham bombing, when a witness spotted a man walking from the bomb scene, followed him and wrote down the license number of a 1989 Nissan pickup in which the man drove off. (Rudolph timeline) Indictments totaling 23 charges against Rudolph were issued in November 2000. Four concerned the Centennial Olympic Park bombing, five related to the Atlanta clinic attack and nine to the gay nightclub. Three more counts filed in Atlanta, and two counts in Birmingham, were related to the Birmingham clinic attack. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Monday that he expected the Birmingham trial to be "relatively short and straightforward," but the latter Atlanta prosecutions would be "more complicated." If convicted, Rudolph could face the death penalty. Ashcroft will decide whether prosecutors will seek that punishment. Rudolph appeared Monday at a 30-minute hearing before U.S. District Judge Lacy H. Thornburg in Asheville, North Carolina, 90 miles from the mountain town where he had been arrested just over 48 hours earlier. Speaking on the steps of the Asheville court building, Sean Devereux, an attorney appointed to make sure Rudolph had legal counsel, told reporters: "[Rudolph] is a reflective individual, and he has a lot to think about. He is not an uncaring person. "He has been portrayed as some sort of zealot, and he's not." Sources close to the investigation told CNN they found a semiautomatic assault rifle at a campsite where Rudolph is believed to have hidden out. The rifle has a range of about 200 yards, the sources said. -- CNN correspondents Mike Brooks in Murphy, Jason Bellini and Gary Tuchman in Asheville, senior producer Henry Schuster in Atlanta and Justice Department correspondent Kelli Arena in Washington contributed to this report.
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