New Evidence in Alabama Bombing Trial
April 27 -- FBI informant Mitch Burns may be the prosecution's star witness in the ongoing trial for the 1963 bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church. The bombing, thought to be racially motivated, killed four young black girls.
Burns, now 73, was enlisted by the FBI 37 years ago to befriend and secretly tape conversations with Thomas Blanton, one of the bombing suspects.
Blanton was one of four members of the Ku Klux Klan identified as suspects by the FBI shortly after the bombing, but FBI director J. Edgar Hoover blocked prosecution of the case claiming an Alabama jury would never convict white men in a crime against blacks. Blanton now faces four counts of murder.
Hidden Tape Recorder
A former Klansman, informant Burns says he agreed to cooperate with the FBI after seeing the gruesome pictures of the four victims. "It shocked me so much, I said I'd do anything I could," he tells 20/20.
For the next four years, Burns says he kept a hidden tape recorder in the trunk of his car and recorded the many conversations he had with Blanton as they drove around town.
In what appear to be transcripts from the tapes, obtained by 20/20, a man identified as Blanton frequently and casually talks about bombings. The prosecution may use the tapes as evidence in presenting its case against Blanton.
The transcripts also indicate a fascination with the bombed church that repeatedly drew Blanton back to the scene of the crime. Burns says he often seemed "possessed" while driving by the church.
'Ain't Gonna Catch Me'
In a Feb. 17, 1965 recording, the two men are parked outside the church and a man identified as Blanton says, "The boys done a good job on this one, there are a few Negroes now who won't grow up to bother us." He then answers Burns' questions about whether dynamite was used and whether it was planted in the church or thrown. "Throwed it," the man responds with a laugh.
In another occasion, on Feb. 25, 1965, the man says "Boomingham bombing … They ain't gonna catch me when I bomb my next church."
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