Eric Rudolph's Final Sentence

Jane Henry refuses to give Eric Rudolph another second of her time, of her life.

Henry, of Boca Raton, Florida, was struck by shrapnel in her leg during the Olympic Park bombing in 1996, which Rudolph has taken responsibility for.

So she will not be in one of the 300 seats reserved for victims when Rudolph is sentenced Monday in federal court in Atlanta to life in prison without parole.

"I don't want to give this guy any more time," Henry said. "It's taken enough of my time and my life."

Rudolph, 38, admitted earlier this year to carrying out the Olympics blast, which killed one and injured 111, and detonating bombs at an abortion clinic and a gay nightclub that injured 11 the following year.

He also received life without parole last month for the 1998 bombing of a women's clinic in Birmingham, Ala., that killed a police officer and maimed a nurse.

Only about half the Olympic Park victims were likely to show up, partly because Rudolph turned the sentencing in Alabama into a forum for his anti-abortion, anti-gay views, and partly because they believe it's time to move on.

Like Henry, Calvin Thorbourne will not be at the hearing.

"I don't need to be there. I can hear about it," said Thorbourne, whose legs also were hit by shrapnel from that bomb. "It's always going to be part of my life, but I've always felt justice would be served."

At the Alabama sentencing, Rudolph portrayed himself as a devout Christian motivated by his hatred of abortion and a federal government that lets it continue.

Rudolph was identified as a suspect after the Birmingham bombing and spent the next five years hiding out in the mountains of western North Carolina. He was captured in 2003 while scavenging for food behind a grocery store in Murphy, N.C.

The former soldier struck a deal with prosecutors: They wouldn't seek the death penalty and he would tell them where to find more than 250 pounds of stolen dynamite he had buried in the North Carolina woods.

Sixty-one victims and relatives notified the federal court here that they planned to attend. About a dozen plan to speak.

Some wanted to be there if for no other reason than to ask Rudolph why.

Tiffani Kelley of Atlanta was a teenager when shrapnel tore through her left leg as she was leaving Centennial Olympic Park.

"I think about it every day," she said. "I'm constantly reminded of it because I have a permanent scar on my leg."
By Harry R. Weber