Thomas Blanton Jr., 86, the last living convicted bomber in the 1963 attack on the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., asked for his freedom from a parole board Wednesday and was denied, CNN reports.
Blanton was a member of the Ku Klux Klan when the church was bombed on Sept. 15, 1963. The tragedy, which has gone down as one of the most notorious terrorist attacks in American history, resulted in the deaths of four young black girls, all under the age of 15. Blanton went 38 years without facing justice until he was convicted in 2001 and sentenced to life in prison.
According to CNN, Doug Jones, the former U.S. attorney who convicted him, responded to Blanton's hope for parole with, "Fact of the matter is, he bombed a house of God on Sunday morning and killed four children and needs to do the time for his crimes."
The Washington Times reports that the Alabama parole board has decided to keep Blanton imprisoned and that he will be eligible for parole again in five years.
Read more at CNN and the Washington Times.