BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — The husband of a nurse injured in the 1998 bombing of a Birmingham abortion clinic says convicted bomber Eric Robert Rudolph has the right to write his autobiography from his super-secure prison cell, but he wonders who would want to read it.
“My first thought about it is, who cares?,” said Jeff Lyons, husband of Emily Lyons who was injured in the bomb blast at the Birmingham clinic.
Lyons’ wife, Emily Lyons, was badly injured in the Jan. 29, 1998 bombing of the New Woman, All Women Health Care Clinic on Birmingham’s Southside. Robert Sanderson, Birmingham police officer who was moonlighting as a security guard at the clinic, was killed in the blast.
Rudolph, now 46, is serving life sentences in the federal maximum security prison in Florence, Colo., for the Birmingham bombing and blasts in Atlanta, Ga., including the Olympic Park blast that killed one person.
Rudolph recently asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for sketches that had drawn during the manhunt for him after the Birmingham bombing, the Associated Press reported. He plans to use a sketch for the cover of his book, AP reported.
With the number of big news events that have happened since the bombing and Rudolph’s capture and sentencing, “Rudolph is yesterday’s news,” Jeff Lyons said.
Lyons said he might be interested to see if there were any new details in the book that he wasn’t aware of, but believes few others will be interested in what Rudolph has to say. “I think this will be a little blip and it will go away,” he said.
Lyons said his wife wasn’t interested in addressing the issue. “We’re trying to put this behind us … Emily is not interested in fanning the flames,” he said.
Emily Lyons has a long list of health problems stemming from the bombing.
Being in prison “doesn’t take away first amendment rights to speech,” Jeff Lyons said.
Jeff Lyons however said he understands Rudolph can’t make any money off a book because of federal laws preventing him from profiting from a crime.
Under his plea agreement with federal prosecutors Rudolph owes restitution to victims in the blast. The agreement also specifies that he pay any “profits or proceeds which he may be entitled to receive in connection with any publication or dissemination of any information relating to illegal conduct” in his case.
