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MAY 2, 2001

A jury in Alabama deliberated for about two hours on Monday and found former Ku Klux Klansman Thomas E. Blanton Jr. guilty of first-degree murder in a 1963 racially motivated church bombing that left four African-American girls dead.

Blanton had been a suspect in the case for more than 40 years. But former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover secretly blocked efforts to bring Blanton or others to justice.

The FBI also had a cache of secret documents it never shared with local prosecutors.

Blanton automatically gets four life sentences. He was convicted in the state court system and says he wlll appeal his verdict.

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Guilty Verdict In '63 Bombing (The Washington Post 5/2)