Boston Bomber death sentence reinstated

In a 6-3 vote on Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to reinstate the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who, along with his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, detonated a bomb at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring hundreds.

According to NPR, Massachusetts had abolished the death penalty, but Tsarnaev was convicted in 2015 on 30 terrorism charges and sentenced to death on six of them. He appealed his death sentences, arguing that the judge refused to allow him to present evidence showing that he, who was 19 at the time, was under the influence of his violent brother, who was seven years older. (Tamerlan was killed in a shoot-out with police in the days following the bombing).

The evidence in question was Tamerlan’s connection to the murder of three men two years before the bombing. He, along with an accomplice, was suspected of killing the men in an act of jihad on the anniversary of 9/11, but was never convicted because of insufficient evidence.

Tsarnaev argued that because the judge did not allow him to use that information in his defense, the jury’s decision was tainted. His death sentence was overturned in 2020, but the Supreme Court said they would likely hear his trial again in 2021.

His death sentence has now been reinstated, but Tsarnaev will not be executed any time soon. There is currently a moratorium on federal executions in the United States, so the Justice Department can conduct a thorough review of its policies and procedures.

This April will be the ninth anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombings.

posted Saturday March 12th
by Running Magazine