There were views of cars with their bonnets and doors crushed by flying debris, and a tall stained glass window with the face of Christ blown out. There was a mugshot of Blanton when he was first taken in for questioning at 25, with a boyish face, black crewcut and rumpled shirt. He wore a grey jacket and trousers and open-necked shirt. Relatives of the four girls watched from the front row of the spectators' section - Denise McNair's parents and sister, Carole Robertson's mother, sister and cousins, and sisters of Addie Mae Collins and Cynthia Wesley. Mr Jones noted that Tuesday would have been Carole Robertson's 51st birthday.
Prosecutors acknowledge that all of their evidence is circumstantial.
Witnesses have died and become infirm. Bobby Frank Cherry, indicted with Blanton last year, was recently declared incompetent to stand trial because of dementia and health problems. The Government has appealed against the ruling. Robert Chambliss, the only other person tried in the case, was convicted in 1977 and died in jail in 1985. A fourth suspect died without being charged.