U.S. Supreme Court to consider restoring Boston Marathon bomber's death sentence

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FILE PHOTO: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is pictured in this handout photo presented as evidence by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston, Massachusetts on March 23, 2015. REUTERS/U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston/Handout via Reuters/File Photo

 

By Nate Raymond

 

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the federal government's bid to reinstate Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's death sentence for helping carry out the 2013 attack that killed three people and wounded more than 260 others.

 

The Justice Department, before former President Donald Trump left office, filed an appeal of a lower court's 2020 decision ordering a new trial over the sentence Tsarnaev should receive for the death penalty-eligible crimes for which he was convicted.

 

The case presents a potential challenge for President Joe Biden, who has said he wants to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level.

 

Individual states set their own policies on the use of capital punishment. Biden's administration has given no indication that it plans to reverse the Trump administration's approach to the case, as it has done in several other cases pending at the court.

 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden continues to have "grave concerns" about capital punishment but has also expressed "horror" about Tsarnaev's actions and the bombing. Psaki said she had no updates on the administration's stance as it relates to the Tsarnaev case.

 

"We are pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Tsarnaev matter," Acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Mendell, the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, said in a statement.

 

Tsarnaev, now 27 years old, and his older brother, Tamerlan, precipitated five days of panic in Boston when they detonated two homemade pressure-cooker bombs at the marathon's finish line on April 15, 2013, and then tried to flee the city. In the days that followed, they also killed a police officer. Tsarnaev's brother died after a gunfight with police.

 

Victims of the bombing have been divided over seeking the death penalty. David Patton, Tsarnaev's lawyer, has previously argued that prosecutors should facilitate "closure" by allowing a life prison sentence. Patton did not respond to a request for comment.

 

Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge who teaches at Harvard Law School, said that "the government should consider whether continuing to pursue a death sentence for him is unnecessarily traumatizing for the victims' families and the city of Boston."

 

Jurors in 2015 found Tsarnaev guilty of all 30 counts he faced and later determined he deserved execution for a bomb he planted that killed Martin Richard, 8, and Chinese exchange student Lingzi Lu, 23. Restaurant manager Krystle Campbell, 29, was also killed.

 

In overturning Tsarnaev's death sentence, the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge "fell short" in screening jurors for potential bias following pervasive news coverage of the bombings, and it ordered a new trial over sentencing for the death penalty-eligible charges.

 

The Justice Department appealed that ruling, arguing that the 1st Circuit adopted a standard that wrongly denied trial judges the "broad discretion" to manage juries allowed under Supreme Court precedents.

 

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments and issue a ruling in its next term, which starts in October and ends in June 2022.

 

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Additional reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-03-23

 

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[Tug]

I’m ok with rubbing the little monster out as long as that penalty is applied evenly across all (brands) of terrorist of all religions and all colors 

[rgraham]

Finish it!

[Boomer6969]

14 minutes ago, rgraham said:

Finish it!

Don't like this wording. But I agree that in the case of terrorism we must accept the death penalty, just as we agree to pay taxes to maintain armed forces we sent out to kill people who may threaten our security.

[JCauto]

1 hour ago, Boomer6969 said:

Don't like this wording. But I agree that in the case of terrorism we must accept the death penalty, just as we agree to pay taxes to maintain armed forces we sent out to kill people who may threaten our security.

So long as you maintain consistency and the same goes for different shades of terrorist...but we already know it won't. So no.

[rcuthbert]

Throw him into general population...

[jesimps]

Brilliant!

[SomchaiCNX]

The money for the trial can better be used to compensate the victims. Just let him commit assisted suicide in his cell. Way cheaper.

 

[DPKANKAN]

24 minutes ago, SomchaiCNX said:

The money for the trial can better be used to compensate the victims. Just let him commit assisted suicide in his cell. Way cheaper.

 

Just tell Hillary C he was a good friend of Mr Epstein!!!????????????????????????????????????????????????

[SomchaiCNX]

45 minutes ago, DPKANKAN said:

Just tell Hillary C he was a good friend of Mr Epstein!!!????????????????????????????????????????????????

You have her number ? ????  

[DPKANKAN]

45 minutes ago, SomchaiCNX said:

You have her number ? ????  

Don't need it. Just put the rumour out in the media! That seems to work.????????????????????????????????

[mlmcleod]

2 hours ago, DPKANKAN said:

Just tell Hillary C he was a good friend of Mr Epstein!!!????????????????????????????????????????????????

Please explain why Hillary Clinton was used here when Donald Trump was a bosom buddy of Epstein?????

[stevenl]

Just put the guy away for life. Cheaper than the death penalty, worse for the guy knowing he will be remanded for the rest of his life, and ends the case for the surviving victims and their relatives.

[DPKANKAN]

56 minutes ago, mlmcleod said:

Please explain why Hillary Clinton was used here when Donald Trump was a bosom buddy of Epstein?????

Truth V Media Hype. End of!!!????????????????

[mogandave]

10 hours ago, Tug said:

I’m ok with rubbing the little monster out as long as that penalty is applied evenly across all (brands) of terrorist of all religions and all colors 

 

How would that ever be possible?

[Sujo]

5 hours ago, DPKANKAN said:

Truth V Media Hype. End of!!!????????????????

How so.

[Sujo]

I dont care what happens to him, but if its ok fo the fed govt to get involved then its ok for when they say no.

 

either states decide or they dont. If feds have a say then they are over ruling states constitution.

[Sujo]

3 hours ago, mogandave said:

 

How would that ever be possible?

By having a federal law on what it takes to get the death penalty. Not based on color or ethnicity.

 

one size fits all. Repubs wont want it because white supremists are their core base.

[Chomper Higgot]

Don’t turn him into a martyr, let him rot in prison

[Pilotman]

8 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Don’t turn him into a martyr, let him rot in prison

he's not worth the oxygen he will breathe, or the food he will eat. 

[Chomper Higgot]

11 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

he's not worth the oxygen he will breathe, or the food he will eat. 

You clearly don’t understand the ‘recruiting value’ of a martyr.

[mogandave]

1 hour ago, Sujo said:

By having a federal law on what it takes to get the death penalty. Not based on color or ethnicity.

 

one size fits all. Repubs wont want it because white supremists are their core base.

 

What laws are based on color or ethnicity? 

 

[Pilotman]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

You clearly don’t understand the ‘recruiting value’ of a martyr.

I don't really care how many martyrs are produced, they hardly need an excuse to be the low life's they are, it just means one less terrorist and that is always a good thing. 

[Chomper Higgot]

33 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

I don't really care how many martyrs are produced, they hardly need an excuse to be the low life's they are, it just means one less terrorist and that is always a good thing. 

The bit about recruiting evaded you.

[SomchaiCNX]

12 hours ago, Pilotman said:

I don't really care how many martyrs are produced, they hardly need an excuse to be the low life's they are, it just means one less terrorist and that is always a good thing. 

Can't we use guys like him to test vaccines or other stuff? 

[Pilotman]

31 minutes ago, SomchaiCNX said:

Can't we use guys like him to test vaccines or other stuff? 

not really , because they may survive and be stronger and healthier.  That rather defeats the object. 

[SomchaiCNX]

53 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

not really , because they may survive and be stronger and healthier.  That rather defeats the object. 

But still in jail and ready for the next shot.

 

[Pilotman]

11 minutes ago, SomchaiCNX said:

But still in jail and ready for the next shot.

 

what could be done I  suppose, is that in the middle of the trial vaccines, say one in every 20 shots, a lethal dose of something painful  would be administered,  a kind of terrorist Russian Roulette.  It would make great reality TV, like the Kardashians, but without the deformed bodies and dumb conversation. ???? 

[KannikaP]

On 3/23/2021 at 12:41 PM, stevenl said:

Cheaper than the death penalty

One phial of Nebutane would do the job, or one round of a .45

[mikebike]

On 3/23/2021 at 12:41 PM, stevenl said:

Just put the guy away for life. Cheaper than the death penalty...

No way cheaper than the death penalty.