ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Olympic park bombing suspect Eric Rudolph appeared before a federal judge today for the first time since his capture, acknowledging his identity but not entering a plea.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said Rudolph will face trial first in Birmingham, Ala., where an abortion clinic was bombed in 1998, and then in Atlanta, site of the 1996 Olympic bombing and other blasts linked to Rudolph.
Rudolph, wearing a blue bulletproof vest over an orange prison jumpsuit, spoke only briefly at the 30-minute hearing before U.S. District Judge Lacy Thornburg.
He sat straight-faced next to attorney Sean Devereux, appointed because Rudolph says he does not have the money to pay a lawyer, as Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose read the charges against him.
"The defendant is waiving his right to enter a plea of guilty here and instead will face charges where those charges are pending," U.S. Attorney Robert Conrad said after the hearing.
Rudolph faces six charges of using an explosive against a facility in interstate commerce and could face the death penalty. Besides the Olympic and Birmingham bombings, he is accused of 1997 bombings in Atlanta outside a gay nightclub and an office building that housed an abortion clinic. In all, two people were killed and about 150 injured in the four attacks.
There was no immediate indication when Rudolph would be moved to Alabama.
Ashcroft said in Washington that having Rudolph tried first in Alabama and then in Georgia will "provide the best opportunity to bring justice to all of the victims of the bombings and to each community that experienced these attacks."
Authorities in Alabama said the passage of time, and the transfer or retirement of some investigators, has not hurt their case.
"The case has been ready to go for some time," said FBI Special Agent Craig Dahle in Birmingham. "We'd be ready to go tomorrow if we had to."
Earlier Monday, Rudolph was brought to Asheville in western North Carolina under heavy guard from Murphy, some 90 miles away, aboard a National Guard helicopter. He was captured Saturday near Murphy after five years on the run.
Rudolph stared defiantly at reporters during his transfer from the jail in Murphy. However, he seemed "very calm" in jail and relieved to have regular contact with other people, said Chris Swecker, FBI special agent in charge for North Carolina. Swecker would not say if Rudolph was cooperating with investigators.
Before the 36-year-old former soldier and survivalist was arrested, he had last been seen publicly in July 1998, when he took supplies from a health food store owner in Andrews, near Murphy.
Federal agents have said he spent much of his spare time in the woods hiking and rappelling down the area's abandoned mine shafts and limestone caverns.
A law-enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity said Monday that investigators were "making progress" in figuring out how Rudolph stayed alive and in such good health.
Investigators said they were examining a campsite recently used by Rudolph and were headed to a second campsite on Monday morning, one believed to have served as a longer-term base camp.
Agents were interviewing people who knew Rudolph, Swecker said. Authorities also want to know if the former fugitive got any help from residents.
Rudolph had been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list, and the government had offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture.
Former sister-in-law Deborah Rudolph, who helped develop a profile for investigators, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that Rudolph believed whites should further their race and opposed abortion because it was killing, in his view, too many white babies. And he had particularly harsh feelings about Jews, she said.
"I think he hated the Jews more than probably any other race," she said. "He felt that, you know, they've been run out of every country they've ever been in. They've destroyed every country they've ever been in. They have too much control in our country. "
The initial manhunt brought hundreds of agents to the area and created some hard feelings among residents. Some have said that while they don't support Rudolph's methods, they agree with his beliefs.
Swecker said investigators this time would try harder to avoid angering residents. He said the FBI was offering confidentiality to callers with tips about Rudolph's whereabouts during his time in hiding.
Despite questions about whether sympathetic locals aided Rudolph during his years on the run, Murphy seemed to be enjoying its moment in the spotlight. A marquee in front of a tire store read: "Got Rudolph? Murphy Does!"