BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The government is seeking the early release from prison of a former Alabama politician whose daughter died in a racist church bombing in Birmingham in 1963.
The Justice Department filed papers today supporting the compassionate release of Chris McNair, a former Alabama county commissioner convicted of taking thousands of dollars in bribes.
McNair is 87 and suffers from numerous health problems. The request asks a judge to reduce McNair's five-year sentence to the time he's served since 2011.
McNair is the father of Denise McNair, one of the four black girls who killed when Ku Klux Klansmen bombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.
A bell from the landmark church was rung at the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday during commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.