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The Boston Marathon finish line
moments before the explosions |
The Department of Justice said Thursday that it will seek the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the alleged Boston Marathon bomber, citing the “heinous, cruel and depraved manner” of the attack that killed three people, injured more than 260, and sent a wave of shock and fear into the region.
Noting that Tsarnaev has shown no remorse, federal prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty because of his “betrayal of the United States’’ and his decision to target the Boston Marathon, “an iconic event that draws large crowds of men, women, and children to its final stretch, making it especially susceptible to the act and effects of terrorism.”
US Attorney General Eric Holder authorized federal prosecutors to seek capital punishment if Tsarnaev is convicted, saying, “The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision.”
The US attorney in Boston, Carmen M. Ortiz, whose office is prosecuting the case, said, “We support this decision, and the trial team is prepared to move forward with the prosecution.”
Massachusetts state courts do not permit capital punishment, but Tsarnaev could be sentenced to death because he faces the charges in a federal case.
Tsarnaev, now 20, faces 30 charges in a federal indictment in connection with the bombing that plunged the region into terror for five days, until his arrest after a police chase and firefight in Watertown. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed during the confrontation in Watertown.
Krystle Campbell, 29; Lingzi Lu, 23; and Martin Richard, 8, died in the blasts. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev also faces charges in the fatal shooting of MIT police Officer Sean Collier.
Of the 30 counts Tsarnaev faces, prosecutors say they will justify the death sentence for 17 of them by proving several necessary factors, including that the killings and injuries were intentional, that Tsarnaev willingly took part in the acts that resulted in death, and that he knew they could end in death.
Source: The Boston Globe, Feb 1, 2014
Boston Police Commissioner: Pursuing death penalty for Tsarnaev is 'appropriate'
The U.S. government will seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston Marathon bombings.
The Boston Marathon bombings killed 3 people and wounded more than 260 others.
17 of the 30 federal charges against Tsarnaev, including using a weapon of mass destruction to kill, carry the possibility of the death penalty.
The 20-year-old has pleaded not guilty; no trial date has been set as of yet.
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said he believe the pursuit of the penalty is appropriate, but he wants to remain focused on those who were injured and killed.
Evans said, 'It's not so much about the punishment, but it's about not forgetting those victims who still have to live with the events that happened on that tragic day."
He said it was likely a difficult decision, but an appropriate one due to the destruction and people hurt.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said that he supports the decision made and will leave it up to the court process.
Source: NECN, Feb.1, 2014
For Boston bombing victims, death penalty decision a 'step forward'
Federal prosecutors say they'll seek the death penalty against Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, arguing that he acted in "an especially heinous, cruel and depraved manner" and lacks remorse.
The highly anticipated announcement Thursday means that when the case against Tsarnaev goes to trial, jurors will not only weigh whether he's guilty, but also whether he deserves to die.
For Liz Norden, it's 1 small step forward.
Her sons, JP and Paul, each lost a leg in the bombings, which killed 3 people and injured more than 250 at the April 15 race.
"I just am relieved that it's going forward in the right direction, 1 step forward in the recovery process, just that the option is out there on the table for the jurors, if that's the way it goes," she told CNN's The Situation Room.
Whenever the case goes to trial, Norden said she plans to attend every day.
"It's important to me. I'm trying to make sense of what happened that day. My boys went to watch a friend run the marathon, and one came home 46 days later. The other one, 32 days later. And their lives are forever changed," she told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "So I want to try and find out, somehow, to make some sense of how somebody could do this to all these innocent people."
Authorities allege Tsarnaev, a Chechnya-born American, and his brother Tamerlan planted 2 homemade bombs near the finish line of the marathon, then killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer 3 days later.
The attacks triggered the massive manhunt that led to Tsarnaev's capture. Police shot and killed Tamerlan Tsarnaev during the manhunt.
"The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement released by the Justice Department Thursday announcing that prosecutors would pursue the death penalty in the case.
After Holder made his decision, prosecutors filed a notice listing factors that they argue justify a death sentence in the case. Among them: The attack killed multiple people, involved substantial planning and premeditation and involved betrayal of the United States, prosecutors said.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is charged with 30 federal counts stemming from the attack. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The decision announced Thursday is no surprise, CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said.
"This is a case, that, if you believe in the death penalty, seems to cry out for the death penalty, even though the defendant is only 19 years old, and potentially the junior partner to his late brother," Toobin said.
But that doesn't mean it's an open-and-shut case.
"One of the most interesting, difficult, strategic decisions the defense faces," Toobin said, is whether to push for a change of venue for the trial.
"Boston was obviously deeply traumatized by this incident. And the jury pool is Boston, if the case remains where it is. But Boston is also probably the most liberal city in the country. Death penalty opposition there is higher than anywhere else," Toobin said. "So does the defense go somewhere else, where people don't have the immediate association with the crime? Or do they go somewhere that might not oppose the death penalty in the same numbers?"
Massachusetts abolished the death penalty 3 decades ago, but prosecutors can seek the death penalty against Tsarnaev because federal law allows for the penalty in certain circumstances.
Despite Holder's decision to authorize the death penalty in the Tsarnaev case, prosecutors still could reach a plea deal for a lesser sentence with his attorneys, who include death penalty lawyer Judy Clarke.
Survivor speaks out
Federal officials weighed a number of factors before they announced their decision, including the opinions of victims of the deadly attack.
Survivors were asked to fill out a questionnaire about what they thought about the death penalty.
Marc Fucarile, who lost a leg in the bombing, said he has no doubt about where he stands: Tsarnaev deserves to die.
"I prefer the death penalty, because I prefer that people know that if you terrorize our country, you're going to be put to death," he told CNN affiliate WCVB. "And I strongly believe that's how it should be."
Life since the bombing hasn't been easy, he said.
"This is almost kind of too easy for him (Tsarnaev)," Fucarile told WCVB. "I still haven't walked for more than day in a prosthetic, and it's almost a year later. ... Life's good, you know. It's going to get better, but it's going to be a road, and it's going to be a long road for the rest of our lives."
In a statement Thursday, Gov. Deval Patrick urged the state's residents to stay strong.
"One way or another, based on the evidence, Tsarnaev will die in prison. In each milestone of the case -- today's announcement, the trial and every other significant step in the justice process -- the people hurt by the Marathon bombings and the rest of us so shocked by it will relive that tragedy," he said. "The best we can do is remind each other that we are a stronger Commonwealth than ever, and that nothing can break that spirit."
Tsarnaev's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reached before federal authorities announced their decision to seek the death penalty, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, the suspect's mother, did not comment on the specifics of the case.
"We are, you know, sickened about our child. ... We have nothing in our heads or in our hearts, so what should I say? We are just really sick," she told CNN's Nick Paton Walsh in a telephone interview.
"The only thing I want to say," she said, "is I want the whole world to hear that I love my son, my precious Dzhokhar. That's it."
Thousands of miles away, another mother -- Norden -- said her love for her own sons makes her want to learn more about Dzhokhar Tsarnaev during the trial, to try to understand why the deadly attacks occurred.
"I watch my sons, and it's sad. Their lives have changed, and they're OK with it. They've learned to accept it. But I can't," she said, her voice cracking. "You know, those are my kids, and they went to watch a marathon on the streets of Boston, and it shouldn't have happened."
Source: CNN, Feb. 1, 2014
Opinions Divided As Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty for Boston Bombing Suspect
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| Dzhokhar Tsarnaev |
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday that federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev if he is convicted.
The announcement by federal prosecutors that they will seek the death penalty against the man accused in the Boston Marathon bombing came as no surprise to people who lost limbs or suffered other injuries in last year's attack.
But the victims and their families expressed a range of emotions about the decision Thursday to seek the execution of a 20-year-old man prosecutors accuse of committing one of the worst terror attacks on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2011.
"It shows people that if you are going to terrorize our country, you are going to pay with your life," said Marc Fucarile, of Stoneham, who lost his right leg above the knee and suffered other severe injuries in the bombing.
But the grandmother of a 29-year-old woman killed in the attack said she isn't sure she supports the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, yet she fears that prison wouldn't be enough punishment for him.
"I don't know, because it's not going to bring her back," said Lillian Campbell, grandmother of Krystle Campbell. "I don't even like to discuss it because it makes me so upset. She was my granddaughter and I miss her so much.
Steve Byrne, who was at the finish line with friends and injured in the bombing, believes a death sentence would be too quick and easy for Tsarnaev.
"Obviously I do agree with it because death is death, but in my own eyes this is a 19 year old kid. He has a long healthy life ahead of him and personally I'd like to see him sit in prison for 50-60 plus years dealing with that," Byrne told New England Cable News.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's decision, announced Thursday, was widely expected. The twin blasts last April killed three people and wounded more than 260. Over 1/2 the 30 federal charges against Tsarnaev carry a possible death sentence, including using a weapon of mass destruction to kill.
In a notice filed in court, federal prosecutors in Boston accused Tsarnaev, who moved to the U.S. from Russia about a decade ago, of betraying his adopted country by planning and carrying out a terrorist attack without remorse.
"Dzhokhar Tsarnaev received asylum from the United States; obtained citizenship and enjoyed the freedoms of a United States citizen; and then betrayed his allegiance to the United States by killing and maiming people in the United States," read the notice filed by U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz.
Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty. No trial date has been set.
In the notice, prosecutors listed factors they contend justify a sentence of death against Tsarnaev.
They cited allegations that he killed an MIT police officer as well as an 8-year-old boy, a "particularly vulnerable" victim because of his age. They also cited his alleged decision to target the Boston Marathon, "an iconic event that draws large crowds of men, women and children to its final stretch, making it especially susceptible to the act and effects of terrorism."
Tsarnaev's lawyers had no immediate comment.
In an interview with ABC, Tsarnaev's mother, Zubeidat, who lives in Russia, said: "How can I feel about this? I feel nothing. I can tell you one thing, that I love my son. I will always feel proud of him. And I keep loving him."
Prosecutors allege Tsarnaev, then 19, and his 26-year-old brother, ethnic Chechens from Russia, built and planted 2 pressure-cooker bombs near the finish line of the race to retaliate against the U.S. for its military actions in Muslim countries.
The older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died in a shootout with police during a getaway attempt days after the bombing. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was wounded but escaped and was later captured hiding in a boat parked in a yard in a Boston suburb.
Authorities said he scrawled inside the boat such things as "The US Government is killing our innocent civilians" and "We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all."
Killed in the bombings were: Martin Richard, 8, of Boston; Krystle Campbell, 29, of Medford; and Lu Lingzi, 23, a Boston University graduate student from China. At least 16 others lost limbs.
Legal experts have said that the defense may try to save Tsarnaev's life by arguing that he fell under the influence of his brother.
"I think their focus ... will probably be to characterize it as coercion, intimidation and just his will being overborne by the older brother," said Gerry Leone, a former state and federal prosecutor in Boston who secured a conviction against shoe bomber Richard Reid.
If a jury convicts Tsarnaev, it will then hold a 2nd phase of the trial to determine his punishment.
Juries are asked to weigh aggravating factors cited by the government against mitigating factors raised by the defense in deciding whether a defendant should be executed. In Tsarnaev's case, mitigating factors could include his young age and claims that he played a secondary role in the crime.
Massachusetts abolished its own death penalty in 1984.
Celeste and Sydney Corcoran, a mother and daughter from Lowell who were both badly injured in the bombing, said of the Tsarnaevs in a statement on a Facebook support page: "They have taken enough from us & we trust in the US Legal System to do its job."
"If you're going to try and commit these types of acts, terrorist acts, then you're going to be held accountable and if it means the death penalty then it means the death penalty," added Peter Brown, whose nephews, Paul and JP Norden, lost their right legs when the 2nd bomb went off 100 yards from the finish line.
2 other federal death penalty cases have been brought in Massachusetts. A former veterans hospital nurse who killed 4 patients by overdosing them was spared the death penalty by a jury. A man accused in the carjack killings of 2 Massachusetts men was sentenced to death in 2003, but the punishment was overturned and he is awaiting a new penalty trial.
Since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988, 70 death sentences have been imposed, but only 3 have been carried out, including the execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in 2001.
Source: Associated Press, Feb.1, 2014
