Wallace Shooter to Be Released

Arthur H. Bremer, who has been charged in the shooting of Ala. Gov. George C. Wallace, is taken into custody by police and agents moments after Wallace was shot, May 15, 1972, following a campaign speech in Laurel, Md. Bremer was sentenced to 53 years in prison for shooting Wallace and three bystanders. Bremer will be released from prison in 2007, an official said Thursday, Aug 23, 2007. He has served 35 years of the sentence. (AP Photo/File) (AP)

"I've forgiven Arthur Bremer and my family has, so I think God's law has been adhered to, and we're comfortable with that," Wallace told the newspaper. "But having said that, I don't believe that given the suffering my father endured all those years from the gunshots and the constant paralysis _ I don't think Arthur Bremer's incarceration comes close to that type of suffering."

The younger Wallace told the paper that the shooting had a "purifying" effect on his father, who became more religious and sought forgiveness from blacks for his previous support for segregation. However, the shooting shortened Wallace's life, his son said.

Reached by phone Thursday morning, George Wallace Jr. declined to comment further.

"I don't have any more to say about it," he said. "It's just too painful."

Jim Collins was shocked when told that Bremer was close to being released. Now a spokesman for the city of Laurel, he had been delivering auto parts to a store at the shopping center close to the time Wallace was shot.

"This is a man who attempted to assassinate, to murder somebody _ not only one, but who shot other people as well," he said. "It amazes me that a person like that could get out of prison."

Bremer's trial lasted just one week. His attorney argued that Bremer was insane, and jurors heard testimony from experts about Bremer's mental state. The jury deliberated for 95 minutes before coming back with guilty verdicts on all counts.

Bremer spoke only briefly. Referring to a prosecutor who said he wanted society to be protected from people like the defendant, Bremer said: "Looking back on my life ... I would have liked it if society had protected me from myself."

Bremer's plans for life outside prison were unclear. Maj. Priscilla Doggett, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Division of Correction, said inmates are required to indicate where they plan to live after their release. Any money they've made from prison jobs is paid in a check, and they're given at least $50 in cash.

Bremer's parents are deceased. His mother, Sylvia, who died in February at age 92, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 1982 that two of her sons had changed their last names because they were tired of being asked about Arthur. Calls to Bremer's brother, Roger, went unanswered.