CORRECTIONS OFFICER FACES U.S. EXTORTION CHARGE

The state correctional officer who convicted church bomber Thomas E. Blanton
Jr. claimed punched him last year faces a federal extortion charge over a
drug debt involving a different inmate.

A state prison spokesman said this month that Cedric L. Bothwell, who worked
at the St. Clair Correctional Facility, was fired following a January
federal indictment and arrest on extortion charges. He had worked for the
system for 15 years.

Court records show Bothwell, 39, is accused of selling crack cocaine to a
male inmate and then accepting $4,000 from the inmate's mother to satisfy
the debt for two drug sales last July and September. When the inmate
couldn't pay $3,500 for two ounces of crack on a third sale, Bothwell
threatened to hurt the inmate if he didn't cover the debt, according to an
FBI agent's affidavit in the case.

Bothwell, of Ashville, later agreed to take $2,000 to settle the third debt,
records show.

The inmate's mother contacted the FBI and met Bothwell at a fast-food
restaurant in Boaz on Oct. 18. She gave Bothwell $2,000 in marked bills,
according to the affidavit. When an agent confronted Bothwell, Bothwell
possessed the marked bills and a cell phone that the mother was told to
call.

No trial date has been set in the case.

In a telephone interview Friday, Bothwell denied that he sold drugs in
prison or extorted payment. He said an FBI agent set him up. "I think he has
something personal against me."

Bothwell also denied meeting the inmate's mother two previous times and said
he met her in October to pick up money for a friend who was going to use it
to buy a motorcycle.

"We done tried to tell the FBI about this from the beginning, but they don't
want to listen," Bothwell said. "So we have to wait until the court date."

When it comes to Blanton, Bothwell denies striking him.

Blanton, a former Klansman convicted in 2001 for killing four black girls in
the 1963 bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, claimed early last year
that Bothwell, who is black, punched him in the face.

Prison spokesman Brian Corbett said an investigation was done, but it did
not "uncover any findings of fact."

"It doesn't mean it didn't happen, but again, there was not sufficient
evidence for us to prosecute," he said.

Federal authorities also secured March indictments against Bothwell's former
defense attorney, John D. Floyd, and his brother, Kelvn Bothwell, on charges
of witness tampering in the extortion case.

Floyd, whose practice is in Gadsden, is accused of trying to get a witness
to lie to the federal grand jury. Floyd denied the charge Friday.

"Other than `not guilty,' I can't make any statements about it," Floyd said.

The Alabama State Bar issued an interim suspension this month against Floyd
after learning about the federal indictment. Floyd said no full hearing has
been held on that suspension and he has appealed.

He also was suspended in February following state arrests out of Etowah
County on charges of tampering with evidence and government records.

Tony McLain, general counsel for the bar, said the organization received a
letter from an Etowah County judge who released a copy of a sealed court
file to Floyd concerning a client's case of driving under the influence.
When the judge got the file back, two documents were missing, McLain said.

Floyd appealed his bar suspension in the Etowah County case, and the bar
lifted it March 7 but issued major restrictions, records show.

Floyd's defense lawyer, Richard Jaffe, said his client has "adamantly
proclaimed his innocence."