Wallace’s attacker set for release

Arthur H. Bremer, who has spent the past 35 years behind bars for shooting and paralyzing former Alabama Gov. George Wallace during a presidential campaign stop in Maryland in 1972, was scheduled to be released today from the state prison system.

Prison officials, who have sought to keep Bremer’s release low-key, refused to confirm the date, which was disclosed in an e-mail to victims. They also would not say where Bremer, 57, will live, though prison system sources said it will be somewhere in Maryland.

Maryland Parole Commission Chairman David Blumberg said in August that officials were trying to find transitional housing for Bremer – such as a halfway house – in a rural area. He also said special conditions would be imposed, such as requiring that he stay away from political candidates and rallies or public events.

A native of Milwaukee, Bremer was 21, a high school graduate and janitor, when he shot Wallace and wounded three others, including a Secret Service agent, during a political rally at a Laurel, Md., shopping center. The shooting forced Wallace, the one-time segregationist, to abandon his maverick bid to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.