Former Jefferson County Commissioner Chris McNair has died. He was 93. McNair, who ran a photography business, first came to public attention in 1963, when his daughter Denise was one of four girls killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. He later served as a Democrat in the Legislature and on the county commission. McNair's career was marred by a bribery conviction and five year federal prison sentence. He only served about two years, when he was released at the age of 87 in 2013 by the Obama administration, under a "compassionate release" negotiated by his then-attorney Doug Jones, who now serves as the state's junior U.S. senator. The McNair family issued the following statement: “We are grateful for the life and legacy of our father, J. Christopher McNair. He was a man who loved his family and this community. We ask for prayers and privacy as we prepare to lay him to rest.”
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