'The life I once had is gone'

An interview with Richard Jewell

On July 7, Richard Jewell appeared on CNN's "TalkBack Live," along with his mother and his lawyer, Lin Wood. The following questions and answers are excepted from that interview.

-- Richard Jewell's appearance on "TalkBack Live" --

QUESTION: Why do you think the FBI persisted in going after you after you had pretty much demonstrated your innocence?

RICHARD JEWELL: Well, I really don't know why they continued after me. I think it was, number one, a lack of other people to go after. Possibly they wanted to lead me out there so that the press would stay on me while they looked for others. I really don't know. I wish Mr. Louis Freeh would tell me. I don't know.

QUESTION: How did you feel when you were considered a suspect?

RICHARD JEWELL: Well, at first, I just couldn't believe it was happening. I was, like, blind-sided. You know, when people come in and uproot your whole life like that, it's devastating beyond any type of trying to describe it. Especially, you know, when you're watching in front of your mother. Your mother's just as big a part of it as you are.

It was very hard when they came in and pulled the hairs from my head. It made -- I knew that was for one thing and one thing only. Law enforcement only pull hairs for DNA tests. And, at that point, they had already searched my mother's home. And they had not found any evidence was even close to anything to the bomb. And the first thing that went through my head was, "Well, they don't care if I did it or not. They're pulling my hairs. They're going to plant evidence on the evidence they've gotten from the park, and they're going to put me in the electric chair." That's when I was really scared is when they started doing that. And I thought they were going to do a test, a DNA test, and put me in the electric chair.

QUESTION: What would be the FBI motive to finger you as the suspect?

RICHARD JEWELL: Well, number one, it was during the Olympics. The whole world was watching. The president had said, "We will catch who did it." And they were under a great deal of pressure. They needed a suspect. Somebody pointed a finger at me and they ran with it, and they tried to make me fit what they thought was the bomber. And I wasn't.

QUESTION: When and how did you first find out that you were a suspect?

RICHARD JEWELL: Tuesday afternoon I was getting ready to go to work. Anthony Davis and Associates, my employer, called and said for me to stay home, that there was something going on he wanted to check into. About that time, the FBI agents, Don Johnson and Mr. Dezerio (ph), showed up at my residence, advised me they wanted me to go to their office and do a training film for special agents in training at Quantico, that they thought I was a hero, and that they wanted to take what I had done and put it on film so that they could train their up-and-coming FBI agents.

While that interview was going on, that taping, a good friend of mine, who is an attorney that I had called, Sunday, and told him what was going on because so much was going on, Watson Bryant. When they tried to read me my Miranda rights, being in law enforcement for six and a half years myself, I knew exactly what that was for. And it scared me to death.

And I told them I wanted to call a buddy of mine, and tried to call Watson, but he wasn't home. But at the same time I tried to call him, he saw the Atlanta Journal Constitution extra edition headlines that the FBI thought I was a suspect, and he called looking for me and found me. And he told me for sure that that's what was going on.

QUESTION: How do you feel about the media now, today?

RICHARD JEWELL: Well, I used to read the paper every day. I used to watch all the news, CNN, headlines. I don't watch anything any more. I don't read the paper, you know. I don't trust anything, especially from the press, that I don't see for my own eyes. I guess you could say it's ruined any trust I have for anything in the press.

QUESTION: Do you think there's anything you can do to get your life back to normal?

RICHARD JEWELL: Well, the life I once had is gone. That was taken away from me. I'm exercising, spending a lot of time at my attorney's office, helping them with my cases. I'm trying to get my life back together and move forward in a positive direction.

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