Shooting of Bernard Whitehurst
From the date of the killing, the "Montgomery Advertiser" covered the shooting of Bernard Whitehurst, Jr. by police and later investigated the subsequent controversy, publishing news stories and editorials that questioned the original police reports. Reporter Bruce Maulden was main reporter who covered the Whitehurst Case, though a variety of other reporters wrote articles about it as well. During the controversy over Whitehurst's death, the police department took issue with some of the newspaper's reporting. To counter claims that his newspaper was fabricating stories, editor and publisher Harold E. Martin took and passed a polygraph. In 1976, three Montgomery police detectives faced perjury charges related to the gun found next to Whitehurst's body, though the only trial resulted in a mistrial. In an attempt to resolve the case, Alabama Attorney General William Baxley agreed that the police involved in the alleged cover-up would not be prosecuted if they passed a polygraph test. Under the agreement, officers who refused to take the test or who failed would be terminated from their jobs. The perjury case against the three officers was dismissed after they resigned instead of taking the polygraph. Eventually, eight police officers were forced to resign or were terminated. No police officer was convicted of a crime. The city’s mayor, James Robinson, and the Director of Public Safety, Ed Wright, also resigned. Acting as the administrator of Whitehurst's estate, his mother Ida Mae Whitehurst filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the fatal shooting and police cover-up deprived Whitehurst of rights guaranteed by the fifth, sixth, thirteenth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution. In October 1976, District Judge Robert E. Varner ruled that any conspiracy to violate Whitehurst's civil rights ended with his death. Following the ruling, the jury returned a verdict in favor of former Police Chief Wright, his top aide Charles Swindall, and Donald Foster. A study of the killing, "Closed Ranks" by Foster Dickson, was published in November 2018 by NewSouth Books.
Lawsuit
The attempted cover-up led to the resignation of the mayor and the Director of Public Safety.
In October 1976, District Judge Robert E. Varner ruled that any conspiracy to violate Whitehurt's civil rights ended with his death. Following the ruling, the jury returned a verdict in favor of former Police Chief Wright, his top aide, Swindall, and Foster.
In 2012, the City of Montgomery acknowledged wrongdoing but no compensation has been given to Whitehurst's family.