Tsarnaev Gets Death Penalty in Boston Marathon Bombing

[Diggy]

BOSTON: A federal jury on Friday condemned Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a failed college student, to death for setting off bombs at the 2013 Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured hundreds more in the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.

The jury of seven women and five men, which last month convicted Tsarnaev, 21, of all 30 charges against him, 17 of which carry the death penalty, took more than 14 hours to reach its decision.

It was the first time a federal jury had sentenced a terrorist to death in the post-Sept. 11 era, according to Kevin McNally, director of the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project, which coordinates the defense in capital punishment cases.

Prosecutors portrayed Tsarnaev, who immigrated to Cambridge, Massachusetts, from the Russian Caucasus with his family in 2002, as a cold-blooded, unrepentant jihadi who sought to kill innocent Americans in retaliation for the deaths of innocent Muslims in U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The bombings transformed the marathon, a cherished rite of spring, from a sunny holiday on Boylston Street to a smoky battlefield scene, with shrapnel flying, bodies dismembered and blood saturating the sidewalks; three people were killed outright, while 17 people lost at least one leg. More than 240 others sustained serious injuries, some of them life-altering.

"After all of the carnage and fear and terror that he has caused, the right decision is clear," a federal prosecutor, Steven Mellin, said in his closing argument. "The only sentence that will do justice in this case is a sentence of death."

With death sentences, an appeal is all but inevitable, and the process generally takes years if not decades to play out. Of the 80 federal defendants sentenced to death since 1988, only three, including Timothy J. McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, have been executed. Most cases are still tied up in appeal. In the rest, the sentences were vacated or the defendants died or committed suicide.

The Tsarnaev verdict goes against the grain in Massachusetts, which has no death penalty for state crimes and where polls showed that residents overwhelmingly favored life in prison for Tsarnaev. Many respondents said that life in prison for one so young would be a fate worse than death, and some worried that execution would make him a martyr.

But the jurors in his case had to be "death qualified" that is, they all had to be willing to impose the death penalty to serve on the jury. So in that sense, the jury was not representative of the state.

Before they could decide Tsarnaev should receive the death penalty, the jurors had to wade through a complicated, 24-page verdict slip. On it, they had to weigh the aggravating factors that would justify his death as well as the mitigating factors, presented by the defense, that would argue for him to live.

Despite that complicated process, Judge George A. O'Toole Jr. of U.S. District Court, who presided in the case, told jurors that their final decision should not be based on a numerical comparison of aggravating factors to mitigating factors. Rather, he said, they should use their individual judgment and internal moral compass.

The final words that jurors heard before beginning deliberations on Wednesday were a blistering assessment from William Weinreb, the lead prosecutor, about why Tsarnaev should be executed and not simply locked up.

"The callousness and indifference that allows you to destroy people's lives, to ignore their pain, to shrug off their heartbreak - that doesn't go away just because you're locked up in a prison cell," Weinreb told them. "It's what enables you to be a terrorist, and it's what insulates you from feelings of remorse."

Life imprisonment, he added, is the minimum punishment authorized by law for these deaths - the three at the marathon and the death a few days later of an MIT police officer. It is "a lesser punishment than death," he said, even though some argue that a lifetime in prison is worse.

"Does he deserve the minimum punishment, or do these crimes, these four deaths, demand something more?" Weinreb asked the jury. "Please ask yourself that question when you go back to deliberate."

The verdict is a rare defeat for Judy Clarke, the lead defense by LAWYERand renowned opponent of the death penalty. Clarke has represented a number of notorious defendants, including Theodore J. Kaczynski, the Unabomber; Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park bomber; and Jared L. Loughner, who killed six people in an assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Clarke's expertise is in negotiating deals in which her clients plead guilty in exchange for sentences of life in prison. But in this case, the government was determined to get a death sentence and rejected her overtures.
© 2015, The New York Times News Service

Tsarnaev Gets Death Penalty in Boston Marathon Bombing

 

[jammersat]

No , he's gonna be sent to alcatraz

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Here are the three people he killed, including a Chinese citizen and a little kid:

 

[ito]

He deserve death....he got it.

 

[ptldM3]

I am willing to bet he is full of regret, he probably never though it would play out this way. Probably one of those 'it seemed like a good idea at the time' events that ruined his life, the lives of victims and their families and the life of his family. Not the brightest kid.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

I am willing to bet he is full of regret, he probably never though it would play out this way. Probably one of those 'it seemed like a good idea at the time' events that ruined his life, the lives of victims and their families and the life of his family. Not the brightest kid.

Didn't Russia warn America that these two brothers had problems with extremism?

I guess their watch list is so full that there is not much they could have done.

 

[IndoUS]

Hopefully now the families would find some closure, so many lives destroyed because of him and his brother.

Also saw his father's interview where he said that the lawyers brought disgrace to his name, and to him I say your sons' brought disgrace to your name and you yourself with your parenting brought disgrace to yourself.

Didn't Russia warn America that these two brothers had problems with extremism?

I guess their watch list is so full that there is not much they could have done.

Yeah, the older brother was on the list but the threat didn't seem to be high enough, FBI had them but they didn't find much regarding them, which goes to show how dangerous these things are.

 

[SALMAN F]

I am willing to bet he is full of regret, he probably never though it would play out this way. Probably one of those 'it seemed like a good idea at the time' events that ruined his life, the lives of victims and their families and the life of his family. Not the brightest kid.

I don't these kind of people have regret
In Iraq when they capture terrorists and then release them later they go back and do the same
The same thing in Egypt and Algeria and Afghanistan

 

[ito]

I am willing to bet he is full of regret, he probably never though it would play out this way. Probably one of those 'it seemed like a good idea at the time' events that ruined his life, the lives of victims and their families and the life of his family. Not the brightest kid.

Once brain washed into extreme Islamic ideology it is hard to change. I can say he is not regretting his actions. He deserves death.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Yeah, the older brother was on the list but the threat didn't seem to be high enough, FBI had them but they didn't find much regarding them, which goes to show how dangerous these things are.

"Watch lists" are too full these days, even a few thousand would be too many to monitor properly, and there are usually a LOT more than that on it.

 

[Viper0011.]

Once brain washed into extreme Islamic ideology it is hard to change. I can say he is not regretting his actions. He deserves death.

He did deserve the death penalty and he got it. Justice served. Beauty of the American justice system is, he was still given a chance to go to the court. But nothing but capital punishment can put peace into people's hearts who lost loved ones due to these barbaric, crazy idiots.

To correct your post a little, its the same with any extremist ideology. The Hindus blind folded with Hinduism, killing Christians and Muslims in India.....follow similar mentality. Its not just limited to Islam. These crimes have been committed against humans under different religions, colors and races.

Terrorists related to Islam have increased their activity in the past two decades, there is no doubt about it, but its not Islam telling ordinary people to become terrorists. Similarly, I don't think it is Hinduism as a religion telling Hindutva followers to go kill and rape Christians and Muslims in numbers (millions over decades).

Terrorism is terrorism and it hurts everyone equally. How come I have NEVER seen an Indian guy showing the same disgust for Hindu terrorists / extremists, compared to what you show for Muslim terrorists?

 

[ito]

He did deserve the death penalty and he got it. Justice served. Beauty of the American justice system is, he was still given a chance to go to the court. But nothing but capital punishment can put peace into people's hearts who lost loved ones due to these barbaric, crazy idiots.

To correct your post a little, its the same with any extremist ideology. The Hindus blind folded with Hinduism, killing Christians and Muslims in India.....follow similar mentality. Its not just limited to Islam. These crimes have been committed against humans under different religions, colors and races.

Terrorists related to Islam have increased their activity in the past two decades, there is no doubt about it, but its not Islam telling ordinary people to become terrorists. Similarly, I don't think it is Hinduism as a religion telling Hindutva followers to go kill and rape Christians and Muslims in numbers (millions over decades).

Terrorism is terrorism and it hurts everyone equally. How come I have NEVER seen an Indian guy showing the same disgust for Hindu terrorists / extremists, compared to what you show for Muslim terrorists?

Every religion have extremists, but other religions doesn't allow these extremists to hijack the majority view. Unfortunately, the minority in Islam have hijacked the majority view. Moreover, the kind of destruction and pan national appeal these Islamic terrorist groups such as ISIS and AQ have are bone chilling and, as far as I know, has no parallels. No wonder, governments across the world have tackling Islamic terrorism a number one priority

 

[gambit]

Every religion have extremists, but other religions doesn't allow these extremists to hijack the majority view.

Very good, sir.

The non-Muslims are increasingly tired of hearing the Muslims protest how we non-Muslims perceives Islam and Muslims, but the Muslims will rue the day when we non-Muslims finally and fully concludes the extremist view to be normative of Islam.

 

[Viper0011.]

Every religion have extremists, but other religions doesn't allow these extremists to hijack the majority view. Unfortunately, the minority in Islam have hijacked the majority view. Moreover, the kind of destruction and pan national appeal these Islamic terrorist groups such as ISIS and AQ have are bone chilling and, as far as I know, has no parallels. No wonder, governments across the world have tackling Islamic terrorism a number one priority

It depends.....a big group conducting terrorism across the globe because it exists in multiple countries (Terrorist fractions from Muslims), doesn't make it a worst terrorist compared to the other group who's been conducting terrorism inside one country (India and Hindu extremists in this case). Locality or global reach don't change the crime, which is murder of innocents in cold blood. So please, keep that stupid justification to yourself.

I still don't see you or anyone else EVER seeing the terrorism inside your country, being conducting by your own Hindu extremists. Until you have the decency to speak against that, you have no right to speak against anyone else. What you are saying is, terrorism conducted by your people is fine and you'll never agree to it or speak against it. But you'll bash the other terrorist group because of your personal hate.

Grow a pair of balls and speak up against the terrorism inside your own country. That would be helping the humanity. You can't call your own people good terrorists and other bad terrorists. All these MOFO's are terrorists and deserve death penalty, whether it be the US, India, Pakistan or China.

 

[ito]

It depends.....a big group conducting terrorism across the globe because it exists in multiple countries (Terrorist fractions from Muslims), doesn't make it a worst terrorist compared to the other group who's been conducting terrorism inside one country (India and Hindu extremists in this case). Locality or global reach don't change the crime, which is murder of innocents in cold blood. So please, keep that stupid justification to yourself.

I still don't see you or anyone else EVER seeing the terrorism inside your country, being conducting by your own Hindu extremists. Until you have the decency to speak against that, you have no right to speak against anyone else. What you are saying is, terrorism conducted by your people is fine and you'll never agree to it or speak against it. But you'll bash the other terrorist group because of your personal hate.

Grow a pair of balls and speak up against the terrorism inside your own country. That would be helping the humanity. You can't call your own people good terrorists and other bad terrorists. All these MOFO's are terrorists and deserve death penalty, whether it be the US, India, Pakistan or China.

Don't get me wrong...every terrorist deserve death. Nobody has the right to terrorize people in the name of religion, cause, caste, race or creed.