In sep­a­rate plea agree­ments with the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment and Georgia pros­e­cu­tors, Eric Rudolph admit­ted killing two peo­ple and injur­ing 150 oth­ers by car­ry­ing out a series bomb­ings at a gay night­club, abor­tion clin­ics, and the 1996 Olympics, and will serve four con­sec­u­tive life sen­tences with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. Prosecutors spared Rudolph from exe­cu­tion in exchange for his guilty pleas and his reveal­ing the loca­tion of about 250 pounds of dyna­mite he had hid­den in the North Carolina moun­tains. Prior to his cap­ture in 2003, Rudolph spent over five years hid­ing from author­i­ties in the Appalachian moun­tains of North Carolina.

​“The many vic­tims of Eric Rudolph’s ter­ror­ist attacks in Atlanta and Birmingham can rest assured that Rudolph will spend the rest of his life behind bars. The best inter­ests of jus­tice are served by res­o­lu­tion of this case and by the skill­ful oper­a­tion that secured the dan­ger­ous explo­sives buried in North Carolina,” said U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias lat­er added, ​“There will be no fur­ther delays in obtain­ing jus­tice for the pub­lic and the many vic­tims of his terrorist activity.” 

(Washington Post, April 6, 2005 and New York Times, April 12, 2005). 

See Life Without Parole; also Federal Death Penalty.

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