Richard Jewell, 1962-2007

Richard Jewell, the man unjustly accused of planting bombs at the 1996 Olympics, has passed away at age 44. As a security guard Jewell actually discovered a pipe bomb and helped evacuate Centennial Olympic Park before becoming the focus of wild speculation.

The best thing written about Jewell was Marie Brenner's 1997 Vanity Fair profile (PDF), a brilliant piece of journalism assigned to students when I was studying at Medill. But Jewell's name doesn't usually evoke memories of good journalism. It evokes the opposite: Nasty, herd-chasing yellow journalism that can destroy lives and reputations. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which put the mark of Cain on Jewell, can walk away from Jewell's case now having never settled with him. As for the FBI, which marked him as a "person of interest"... I can't name any mistakes they've made since then, can you?

In 2005 Nick Gillespie slammed the jail door on Eric Rudolph, the real Olympic Park Bomber. In 2006 Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue commended Jewell's heroism.

Comments

sixstring | August 29, 2007, 4:33pm | #

How many years of his life do you figure were lopped off by the treatment he received?

stoneymonster | August 29, 2007, 4:37pm | #

A reminder

Pro Libertate | August 29, 2007, 4:42pm | #

The FBI should pay for a statute in this man's honor. The gold plating should be paid for collectively by the media. Bastards, all.

Warty | August 29, 2007, 4:52pm | #

On Eric Rudolph's Wikipedia page:

On March 7, 1998, Daniel Rudolph, Eric's older brother, videotaped himself cutting off one of his own hands with a radial arm saw in order to, in his words, "send a message to the FBI and the media."

...Come again?

Warty | August 29, 2007, 4:52pm | #

Fuck, I'm too stupid to close a tag properly. Fuck me.

Larry Craig | August 29, 2007, 5:08pm | #

Best to let the heat die down first, Warty.

sixstring | August 29, 2007, 5:11pm | #

Warty,

Is that on YouTube?

Episiarch | August 29, 2007, 5:11pm | #

Prosecutors are always so keen on charging people for felonies that they aren't responsible for (people who sell heat lamps for growing pot, guys being pursued by the cops for accident deaths)--where are the charges against the FBI and the media on this one?

I'm not actually saying the media should be held responsible (the FBI is another story) but I want to point out the double standard.

lunchstealer | August 29, 2007, 5:20pm | #

Rest in peace, Mr. Jewell.

shecky | August 29, 2007, 5:20pm | #

"
On March 7, 1998, Daniel Rudolph, Eric's older brother, videotaped himself cutting off one of his own hands with a radial arm saw in order to, in his words, "send a message to the FBI and the media."

OKAYYY... Message received loud and clear...

*wtf?*

Vasili | August 29, 2007, 5:34pm | #

He will be known forever as the person falsely accused for bombing an Olympic Park. God bless Richard A. Jewell and his family.

Cesar | August 29, 2007, 5:44pm | #

R.I.P. Richard Jewel, and fuck the FBI/media.

Doctor Duck | August 29, 2007, 5:46pm | #

send a message to the FBI and the media

And that message is: "I'm a loopy-ass one-handed mortar forker"

Plant Immigration Rights Supporter | August 29, 2007, 6:07pm | #

"On March 7, 1998, Daniel Rudolph, Eric's older brother, videotaped himself cutting off one of his own hands with a radial arm saw in order to, in his words, "send a message to the FBI and the media."

Can anybody verify this? I went back to Wikipedia to check this out and it was removed. Perhaps this was a rumor that had been debunked?

Max | August 29, 2007, 6:10pm | #

Richard Jewell was lucky in a way: the case was ultimately solved. Once a person is named as a quasi-suspect, only positive proof of innocence suffices to restore a reputation.

M | August 29, 2007, 6:24pm | #

Paragraph #4, sentence #2 ff. hier.

Scooby | August 29, 2007, 6:28pm | #

PIRS,

click link on my name for short contemporary CNN story on the amputation

Atabrat | August 29, 2007, 6:28pm | #

Marie Brenner's linked story is very depressing. Is there anyone remotely competent in our government? I'm pretty sure I could be just as incompetent for a much lower salary. Privatize!

Brian Courts | August 29, 2007, 7:13pm | #

Richard Jewell was lucky in a way: the case was ultimately solved. Once a person is named as a quasi-suspect, only positive proof of innocence suffices to restore a reputation.

Excellent point Max. How many Richard Jewell's are there doing time for much less notorious cases that never received the attention this one did? If it had been anything less dramatic than a bombing at the Olympics he'd have lived out his days in a prison cell.

Happy Jack | August 29, 2007, 7:25pm | #

Holy shit! The AJC spends half of Jewell's obituary crowing about how they didn't have to pay him for publishing an anonymous smear. "Don't blame us, we're just stenographers!"

I guess they were too lazy to drive out and piss on his grave. I can hardly wait for the obits of Wen Ho Lee and Steven Hatfill.

joe | August 29, 2007, 7:30pm | #

All the good, 24-watching, Michelle Malkin-reading, Red State Americans who think racial profiling is a really good idea when confronting terrorism need to hear the name Richard Jewell on a daily basis.

joe | August 29, 2007, 7:32pm | #

Was Steven Hatfill cleared?

Happy Jack | August 29, 2007, 7:53pm | #

Was Steven Hatfill cleared?

Not to my knowledge. But he hasn't been arrested, either, which is why they normally hold pressers announcing that "suspects" are in custody.

If he's innocent, it's likely he will go to his grave with this cloud hanging over him.

SuperMike | August 29, 2007, 8:18pm | #

What kind of moron cuts his hand off with a radial arm saw? Everyone knows that a band saw is the civilized choice.

Max | August 29, 2007, 8:42pm | #

If he's innocent, it's likely he will go to his grave with this cloud hanging over him.

Incidentally, the FBI's very showy interest in Hatfill began just days after a scientist critical of the FBI, who fingered Hatfill (not by name, at least not in public) as a likely suspect, testified before Congress. A coincidence? Or was the destruction of Hatfill a PR move? (It worked, by the way - criticism of the FBI abated).

Plant Immigration Rights Supporter | August 29, 2007, 9:42pm | #

Thanks to M and Scooby for the links.

Karen | August 29, 2007, 10:22pm | #

My thoughts are with him and his family, and a blight on the damned Atlanta paper for the pain they caused. The only bright spot in this sorry tale is that Free Republic wasn't in business yet so they couldn't be calling for him to be waterboarded into a confession. I propose that somebody collect money to found the "Richard Jewell Center for Legal Services to the Wrongly Accused."

Daze | August 30, 2007, 12:41am | #

Even now, the obituaries identify him as "the man wrongly suspected of the bombing" rather than "the man whose actions saved dozens of lives". Poor guy.

Lamar | August 30, 2007, 12:48am | #

Sad to hear he passed away so young. I kind of like the idea that we have a workaday guy who will go down in history as a guy who did his job properly and will now live on to remind us that the government and media are not only imperfect, but sleazy as hell. He's the modern day Alamo, at least for this particular issue. Peace to that guy.

wayne | August 30, 2007, 3:32am | #

Richard Jewell was lucky in a way: the case was ultimately solved. Once a person is named as a quasi-suspect, only positive proof of innocence suffices to restore a reputation.


Sorta like the Duke Lacrosse team rapists.

wayne | August 30, 2007, 3:36am | #

All the good, 24-watching, Michelle Malkin-reading, Red State Americans who think racial profiling is a really good idea when confronting terrorism need to hear the name Richard Jewell on a daily basis.

Was Jewell racially profiled?

Underzog | August 30, 2007, 6:03am | #

If Ceaser is who I remember him to be, this is the first and last time I'll ever agree with him.

"There's no need to fear. Underzog is here!"

daemon | August 30, 2007, 6:29am | #

All the good, 24-watching, Michelle Malkin-reading, Red State Americans...

This kind of profiling, on the other hand, is acceptable.

daemon | August 30, 2007, 6:30am | #

In before joe says "I totally did that on purpose to show how stupidly wrong profiling is."

Cracker's Boy | August 30, 2007, 8:22am | #

I'll always credit Richard Jewell as the man who caused the police to replace the term "suspect" with th phrase "person of interest".

RIP, Richard.

CB

John | August 30, 2007, 8:22am | #

Just like the Duke rape case, the narative was right but the facs were wrong. The narative in the media is always that white men are innately evil and suspect, especially a white man who didn't go to the right school, doesn't have much money and lives with his mother. The sad fact is that the media if they were honest doesn't regret what they did to Jewell. In their minds, Jewell by virtue of being white, lower middle class and male, clearly did something wrong they just happened to guess the wrong thing.

Finkelstein | August 30, 2007, 8:34am | #

No shit joe, I see what you're saying. The media profiles Southern white boys, imagine it as government sanctioned policy.

jon | August 30, 2007, 8:37am | #

That park should have his name on it. And not just because Jewell Park sounds better than Centelnnial Olympic Park. Honestly, how many people did he save from injury or death? Ten? Twenty? A hundred? After all the shit he went through, that's what his life should really be remembered for.

jon | August 30, 2007, 8:38am | #

I misspelled "Centennial" but I blame the keyboard.

Dave W. | August 30, 2007, 9:01am | #

Was Steven Hatfill cleared?

Were you? Is there any better reason for suspecting Hatfill than you?

How many years of his life do you figure were lopped off by the treatment he received?

HFCS killed Jewell, not FBI. KO was the accomplice, not AJC. I mean, maybe no third parties deserve any of the blame, but if you are going to blame 3d parties, at least blame the correct ones. Selling your KO stock is not a bad idea either, perhaps as a sort of penance in memory of Jewell.

VM | August 30, 2007, 9:14am | #

jon -

Hier in Chicago, there's a chain of grocery stores named after him!

[whisper whisper]

oh. coinky-dink. Never mind.

wayne | August 30, 2007, 9:48am | #

That park should have his name on it. And not just because Jewell Park sounds better than Centelnnial Olympic Park. Honestly, how many people did he save from injury or death? Ten? Twenty? A hundred? After all the shit he went through, that's what his life should really be remembered for.

Ya know, this is a really good idea. It won't "fix" anything but as symbolic gestures go at least it transforms "us" from saying that Jewell was a murderer to a hero.

Dan T. | August 30, 2007, 9:51am | #

The narative in the media is always that white men are innately evil and suspect

This goofy remark reminds me of the Monty Burns line from the Simpson Movie: "At last, the rich white man has the advantage!"

Dan T. | August 30, 2007, 9:55am | #

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which put the mark of Cain on Jewell, can walk away from Jewell's case now having never settled with him.

But let's face it, if you disagree with the way the AJC handled the Jewell situation you should simply stop buying their paper. Let the market solve all problems instead of getting the courts and government involved.

robc | August 30, 2007, 10:17am | #

joe,

I read your misplaced comment in the other thread that was supposed to be here.

If you had read the posted links, you would realize you are wrong. (I realized the appropriate posted link is 32 pages long, but so what, RTFL) Jewelll fit *NO* profile. The AJC claim that he fit a profile was complete made up BS.

wayne | August 30, 2007, 10:20am | #

The FBI should pay for a statute in this man's honor.

Pro libertate,
Normally I ignore typos, but this one is pretty funny. Would this be a statute against falsely accusing heros of villainy? Maybe a statute against racially profiling white males (to placate Joe) would be in order?

VM | August 30, 2007, 11:45am | #

DanT:

The narative in the media is always that white men are innately evil and suspect

next time someone accuses you of a trollish comment, just trot out that line.

Mein Gott. That's got to be the most stoopidest fucking thing ever said at H&R. And since the dickhead posts here, that's saying a lot!

joe | August 30, 2007, 5:50pm | #

wayne is incorrect.

The FBI decided to concentrate on Jewell because he fit the profile of someone who would commit a crime in order to make himself a hero, including noting that most such cases involve white males of lower socio-economic status.

This kind of profiling, on the other hand, is acceptable.

Yes, it is. Noting that people who commit a certain type of crime are largely from a certain democgraphic, georgraphic, or other group is perfectly acceptable. The FBI profilers were right - most people who commit attention-seeking crimes, like they thought this war, do fit Jewell's profile. The problem comes when the reasoning gets turned around, and people assume that most members of that demographic group are all likely to commit that crime, or even a step further, that this individual member of that group is likely to commit that crime by virtue of his belonging to that group.

"John is a man" is a true statement.

"All, or almost all, Johns are men" is a true statement.

"Therefore, all men are John" is a fasle statement.

"Therefore, most men are John" is a false statement.

"Therefore, this man is John" is a false statement.

Thank you for the opportunity to clarify this common misunderstanding.

Max | August 30, 2007, 9:33pm | #

The FBI decided to concentrate on Jewell because he fit the profile of someone who would commit a crime in order to make himself a hero, including noting that most such cases involve white males of lower socio-economic status.

Unlike most crimes, which are primarily committed by Harvard graduates?

If you read the Vanity Fair piece, it's pretty clear that the "profile" business was a media invention. Even the FBI is not that stupid.

wayne | August 31, 2007, 3:26am | #

I guess what it boils down to is this: Jewell fit a profile that indicated he was the sort of person who might have done the bombing. By coincidence, he was at the scene of the crime and found a bomb. Fair enough, your cynical cop suspicions are stimulated.

The wrong that was done is that Jewell was not properly treated after he was cleared.

wayne | August 31, 2007, 3:28am | #

This kind of profiling, on the other hand, is acceptable. Yes, it is. Noting that people who commit a certain type of crime are largely from a certain democgraphic, georgraphic, or other group is perfectly acceptable.

So, it is OK to treat young, Arab, Muslim men with greated suspicion and to more thoroughly search them at airport security checks?

robc | August 31, 2007, 9:16am | #

joe,

The FBI decided to concentrate on Jewell because he fit the profile of someone who would commit a crime in order to make himself a hero, including noting that most such cases involve white males of lower socio-economic status.

Did you read the fucking link? It says that that profile doesnt exist, because they only had one similar case and it wasnt that similar. You cant build a profile from a single data point. You are repeating the AJC's lies.

robc | August 31, 2007, 9:17am | #

Wayne,

I guess what it boils down to is this: Jewell fit a profile that indicated he was the sort of person who might have done the bombing

As Max, myself, and the Vanity Fair piece keep trying to point out, this is false. Jewell fit no profile.

wayne | August 31, 2007, 10:24am | #

"As Max, myself, and the Vanity Fair piece keep trying to point out, this is false. Jewell fit no profile."

My apologies. I did not read the article, I just took Joe's word for it.

joe | August 31, 2007, 6:07pm | #

Jeebus, wayne, what's the matter with you?

You ask, "So, it is OK to treat young, Arab, Muslim men with greated suspicion and to more thoroughly search them at airport security checks?"

After quoting a statement from me that was followed with "The problem comes when the reasoning gets turned around, and people assume that most members of that demographic group are all likely to commit that crime, or even a step further, that this individual member of that group is likely to commit that crime by virtue of his belonging to that group."

C'mon, wayne. If you really try, you can figure our how I might answer your question.

wayne | September 1, 2007, 8:28am | #

Joe,

If it is OK to profile people, then presumably it is OK to "act" on those profiles, else why bother profiling in the first place? I was surprised to see you say that it is "OK to profile".

David | September 3, 2007, 4:23pm | #

Yes, CNN reported that Daniel Rudolph had, indeed, cut off his hand with a saw, (last paragraph.)