Eric Robert Rudolph, convicted of the lethal 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing and a string of other attacks, will remain behind bars for life, as the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dashed any hopes for a sentence revision yesterday; officials confirmed that Rudolph is to uphold his end of a 2005 plea bargain which spared him the death penalty in exchange for accepting multiple life terms, as reported by FOX 5 Atlanta.
Underpinning their decision, the panel stressed Rudolph's own agreement to the plea, stating "Eric Rudolph is bound by the terms of his own bargain, he negotiated to spare his life, and in return he waived the right to collaterally attack his sentences in any post-conviction proceedings," according to Judge Britt Grant's written opinion as detailed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Rudolph's plea stemmed from his admission to not only the Atlanta Olympic Park bombing that resulted in one fatality and numerous injuries but also his involvement in bombings at an abortion clinic and a gay nightclub in Georgia and Alabama; this included a 1998 bombing that killed a Birmingham police officer and severely injured a clinic nurse.
The rejected appeal hinged on a 2019 Supreme Court decision which deemed parts of the statute defining "crime of violence" too vague, however, the 11th Circuit's judgment held that Rudolph, nonetheless still serves his time under the original penalties, these sentiments echoed in court documents and further highlighted by the fact that the tragic Centennial Olympic Park bombing, which killed Alice Hawthorne and injured scores more, was just one dark chapter in Rudolph's campaign of fear and destruction, the others being attacks on an abortion clinic and the Otherside Lounge, a popular gay and lesbian nightclub in Atlanta.
