Former Olympic Park Guard Jewell Dies

Photographers surround Richard Jewell prior to his testifying before a House Judiciary Crime subcommittee hearing on the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta, July 30, 1997. Jewell, a former security guard who was erroneously linked to the 1996 Olympic bombing, died Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. (AP Photo/Greg Gibson, FILE) (Greg Gibson - AP)

Eighty-eight days after the initial news report, U.S. Attorney Kent Alexander issued a statement saying Jewell "is not a target" of the bombing investigation and that the "unusual and intense publicity" surrounding him was "neither designed nor desired by the FBI, and in fact interfered with the investigation."

The episode led to soul-searching among news organizations about the use of unattributed or anonymously sourced information. Jewell's name became shorthand for a person accused of wrongdoing in the media based on scanty information.

In 1997, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno expressed regret over the leak regarding Jewell. "I'm very sorry it happened," she told reporters. "I think we owe him an apology."

Eventually, the bomber turned out to be anti-government extremist Eric Rudolph, who also planted three other bombs in the Atlanta area and in Birmingham, Ala. Those explosives killed a police officer, maimed a nurse and injured several other people.

Rudolph was captured after spending five years hiding out in the mountains of western North Carolina. He pleaded guilty to all four bombings in 2005 and is serving life in prison.

Jewell sued several media organizations, including NBC, CNN and the New York Post, and settled for undisclosed amounts. According to Lin Wood, Jewell's longtime attorney, Jewell also settled a lawsuit against Piedmont College, a former employer. That amount was also confidential.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution never settled a lawsuit Jewell filed against it, and the case is set for trial in January.

"I expect to pursue it for Richard and his estate," Wood said. "But that is a decision for a less sad day."

A lawyer for the newspaper, Peter Canfield, has said that the newspaper stands by its coverage of Jewell. Publisher John Mellott declined to comment about the lawsuit on Wednesday but said that Jewell was a hero "as we all came to learn."

"The story of how Mr. Jewell moved from hero to suspect and back in the Olympic Park bombing investigation is one The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported fully even as it defended itself in a libel case brought by him," Mellott said.

Jewell, in an interview with the AP last year around the 10th anniversary of the bombing, insisted the lawsuits were not about making money. He bought his mother a place to live and gave 73 percent of the settlement money to his attorneys and to the government in taxes. He said the cases were about ensuring the truth was told.

"I'm not rich by any means monetarily," he said at the time. "I'm rich because of my family. If I never get there, I don't care. I'm going to get my say in court."

Jewell told the AP last year that Rudolph's conviction helped clear his name, but he believed some people still remember him as a suspect rather than for the two days in which he was praised as a hero.

"For that two days, my mother had a great deal of pride in me _ that I had done something good and that she was my mother, and that was taken away from her," Jewell said. "She'll never get that back, and there's no way I can give that back to her."

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Associated Press writer Greg Bluestein contributed to this story.