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Jury sentences Tsarnaev to death

Death by lethal injection for killing Martin Richard and Lingzi Lu, but found he didn't deserve death for the murder of Krystle Campbell and MIT officer Sean Collier.

WBUR has more details.

Statement by Mayor Walsh:

I want to thank the jurors and the judiciary for their service to our community and our country. I hope this verdict provides a small amount of closure to the survivors, families, and all impacted by the violent and tragic events surrounding the 2013 Boston Marathon. We will forever remember and honor those who lost their lives and were affected by those senseless acts of violence on our City. Today, more than ever, we know that Boston is a City of hope, strength and resilience, that can overcome any challenge

Statement by Dic Donohue:

Just over two years after the events that impacted us as a community and a nation, we can finally close this chapter in our lives. The verdict, undoubtedly a difficult decision for the jury, gives me relief and closure as well as the ability to keep moving forward

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Comments

Lots of "yes" answers to the aggravating charges. Feels like this is leading up to a 'yes' on the death penalty. This is oddly riveting as the actual punishment seems to get announced last

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and I'm OK with it. Although the practical person inside me knows it would be cheaper to lock him in a cell forever.

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...in a "cleaner version of hell", as ADX Florence has been described, just like every other terrorist and dangerous criminal who is sent there. I'd rather see him live for the rest of his life in hell on Earth in a tiny cell with nothing to occupy his mind than to give him any more notoriety.

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So it's torture then? I hear there might be a job opening at Gitmo.

Alive there's always the chance of release:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdelbaset_al-Megrahi

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Are you anti-death penalty or anti-prison? Being alone 24/7 isn't in and of itself "torture". A strong person could survive.

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Death Row, you have to be inconclusively found guilty. I know we have innocent people behind bars, but not on death row.

The process should be streamlined.

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Was that a Freudian slip? We have plenty of innocent people on death row. Check out Barry Scheck and the Innocence Project. Read about Pat Quinn.

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To quote an accurate quote:

"How can one say that it's against the law to go out and kill people when the law itself becomes a killer?"

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http://www.wcvb.com/news/newscenter-5-breaking-news/26098608

They will show split screen of judge announcing jury verdict on penalty and Tsarnaev's reaction.

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Federal trials are not broadcast

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I apologize. I should clarify that was what the victims' families were going to be seeing,as well as other courtroom observers. We get the clerk's reading instead.

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That's not good for the toussle-haired youth.

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State-sanctioned killing is more akin to totalitarian regimes, than the United States of America. This is a sad day. Now we get years upon years of appeals and the families of the injured and lost have to endure these memories OVER and OVER again. The nightmare that these families have been enduring is only beginning instead of ending, as would have happened if we locked him up and threw away the key. Disgusting. It's time to abolish the death penalty.

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locking somebody up for what could be a half dozen or more decades doesnt seem to be humane either

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A supermax has a bed, toilet, food, water, a window, & 1 hr of rec time. Most importantly he has his LIFE. It is humane punishment. No one has the right to take a life away from another, including the State.

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but that is not a life, nor is it humane

you might consider doing some research on what affect harsh sentences have on crime prevention/preventing recidivism

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Look I totally support sentencing reform for most crimes. We lock up way too many people. This is an extreme case and a case where I believe that the prison system IS the right solution. You mention "preventing recidivism" but if he's sentenced to life, he's not going to get out... He's not going to have an opportunity to do this crime again, or any crime.

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no crimes have ever been committed in jail

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You do realize where he was going right? It's not your average jail. It's a top level supermax. The shower is in his room. It's not like he can shank someone in the shower.

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Yeah, it's like a regular Four Seasons according to this jabroni.

The bed is made out of concrete, the "window" is about a four inch slit offering zero view of anything worthwhile, and you get one hour of rec time by yourself in a cement cage.

Then its back into solitary for another 23 hours.

I'll wager a guess the food sucks.

And that is considred humane to you? Lock someone in a hole and forget about them for 60 years is humane?

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What do you believe should happen to him then? Serious question.

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He should be hung in the town square at day break.

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he can fight aaron hernandez. winner gets to play for the oakland raiders.

this ensures that each party is still punished for their crimes.

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They're the shining example of justice, aren't they?

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You know who else liked executing people in town square? Nuts who treated black people as slaves and didn't allow women to vote. Try to evolve past the 1600's.

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Particularly a Supermax? It's designed for only one purpose: to drive it's inmates insane. No hope of rehabilitation.

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"No one has the right to take a life away from another, including the State."

First half correct, second half wrong. The state does have the right to take a life. In this case that right was exercised by a jury under the careful guidance of the law, as built up in the last two hundred years in this country.

Justice was served. If you don't like it, work to change it, but do not say it was not correct.

Me? I'm good.

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The country and the city and the very people he shred, murdered, and mutilated gave him a chance. A jury, charged with looking at evidence, and making a decision.

That's a lot more than he gave Martin Richard, and hundreds of others.

I'll stand with the jury on this one. And in this instance, they are the only ones that matter.

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Couldn't have said it better.

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People who disagreed with the death penalty were not allowed to serve on the jury. The verdict will be seen as disgusting around the world.

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in death penalty cases, guaranteeing a verdict for the death penalty.
In Massachusetts, the majority of people are against the death penalty.
So that was not a jury of his peers.

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Yes, people who object to the death penalty were excluded from the jury. No, that doesn't mean the people who did serve were necessarily "pro" death penalty.

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I don't know what you mean by that, Adam. They had to agree that they did not have a moral objection to the death penalty. They aren't "pro" death penalty in that they want it applied whenever it is offered or anything. But it does mean that given a case where there's a proven justification for applying it, they are fine with doing so. Call it "pro" choice....on the death penalty.

This wasn't a debate on the use of the death penalty. There was no chance on a life without parole decision, because if he did enough to justify that then he might as well be dead and you have a jury of members who have said they'd be willing to kill him. So, what set of circumstances would lead people who will kill you to think you are unredeemable but not worth killing?

Thus, it's a foregone conclusion which may even be how it should be if you have the death penalty on the books. Thus, death penalty opponents should work to fix the law, not depend on or bemoan a lack of jury nullification of it.

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Only 15% of Bostonians polled wanted him executed. On the side of execution you have North Korea and ISIS. Congrats on being on the wrong side of history.

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I wonder how that supposed 15% would have changed if people had seen in detail all of the evidence and heard all of the testimony presented to this fair and impartial jury.

I also seriously doubt that only 15% supported the death penalty in this case. Perhaps the sample was taken at a Cambridge convention of Quakers.

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The Boston Globe paid for that poll. And broadcast it's results. Which just happened to coincide with their above the fold editorial position in depth reporting on the whole trial. The Globe is welcome to their opinion, and protected in their expression of it. But their all-stops-out attempt to influence the process and the jury here left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

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Not to mention the agony of having to listen to people politicize the punishment OVER and OVER again.

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the case go on and on, over and over on appeal; this is from what the Richards family, and others, should be spared...u wanna talk about agony?

not sure you get the meaning of the word brother.

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That should take care of the appeals process.

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Just curious.

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should be pro abortion but thats different from being pro choice

food for thought

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.

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that you think that answer is a cop out

nobody has ever been happy to have to get an abortion. by their nature they happen because of an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy. never having had an abortion this is an assumption but i assume there is a pretty severe emotional toll on a person deciding to get an abortion or finding out its medically recommended to do so.

so yeah, i would say that being pro choice but not necessarily pro abortion isnt a cop out, its just being human.

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Is you think killing this maggot is disgusting but killing a baby is OK because "my body my choice".

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i never said killing him was disgusting

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And please, let's keep adding more drains on what's left of our resources.

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Tell that to a hopeful mother who miscarried.

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it didnt play well

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Let's try and keep logic and emotion separate here, shall we?

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On a totally irrelevant derailment of this thread into a discussion of what reproductive rights you might or might not allow

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Sorry you can't see the obvious parallels, but not everyone is capable of thinking logically.

Obviously, the crux of it depends on when you believe a fetus becomes an actual human being deserving of rights, which in this instance is the right to not be murdered.

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If you took logic, you know your ad hominem topic is a fallacy.

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You want to adopt unwanted kids? Go to a foster home and have your pick because there are plenty there. Otherwise stfu because abortion lowers the crime and welfare rates and the amount of children in foster homes.

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Im just wrenching in agony think about the execution of a muslim extremist who attached my city and killed innocent people.

Get over yourself!

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you think hes a barnacle?

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Get off your high horse.

And many non totalitarian Asian countries have capital punishment (hanging in Japan);I consider them just as 'civilized' as the Euros, who are the ones who mostly piss and moan about capital punishment.

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Now we get years upon years of appeals and the families of the injured and lost have to endure these memories OVER and OVER again

That is a very good reason why we need to seriously reform the appeals system (especially the "automatic" do-overs we give to people found guilty). But it's not a good reason to totally abolish the death penalty.

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Well said. Civilized countries don't execute people in 2015. Only simpletons think bloody vengeance is the best course. Even though this is a federal case the execution makes Boston look like a Third world city.

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"I hope this verdict provides a small amount of closure to the survivors, families, and all impacted by the violent and tragic events surrounding the 2013 Boston Marathon"

Even the survivors and families who said they didn't want him killed?

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Marty, sometimes it's better to not release a statement.

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The Midget Mayor Marty has no original thoughts or opinions of his own. He waits to see where the wind is blowing, then figures out how to cash in.

Eh! je suis leur chef, il fallait bien les suivre!

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..there is no closure for sometime to come..interesting to me that the ones MOST affected by this with tremendous loss and sorrow are the most merciful...humbling lesson in that.

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I absolutely didn't expect this outcome, but I'm very glad the jury found as they did.

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....pulling the trigger?
....inserting the needle?
....flipping the switch?
....placing the rope?

serious questions.

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but i would probably ship him to florida and feed him to the gators

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I've always been squeamish about needles.

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...but I don't believe either of you.

whether one believes in or opposes the death penalty: why is taking another life, whether you believe it is deserved or not, a cause for joy, gladness, and other elation expressed in this thread? The level of flippancy regarding this guy's fate is disturbing. This is not a video game. Like it or not, it is still premeditated killing. Add to the innocents already lost, I just don't see much to be happy about.

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i have no aversion to killing, trust me

there are no stray cats in my neighborhood.

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Seek help.

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It's sickening how glad people are that someone is going to die. At this point, those people scare me more than this kid.

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They should not scare you. They would never do any of the sick things that they want to do to criminals. They probably wouldn't even defend themselves if confronted. LIke I said, they're cowards.

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Oh. Never mind.

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The only real arguments against the death penalty for this case are arguments against the death penalty in general. The jurors already have to be okay with the death penalty, so those arguments aren't going to work.

If I were on the jury, I would have had a very hard time sentencing him to life based on the arguments made by the defense. It's hard to see how being nice in middle school somehow would be a factor in the decision. It's also hard to take the argument that his brother made him do it seriously when there was never any attempt to stop the attack and the note left in the boat was done without the brother. I also found the nuns testimony to be disgusting - the jury saw him showing no remorse throughout the trial. If he was actually remorseful, then he would be able to show it himself, not get a nun to lie for him. All of those arguments would have just made me more angry and believe the death penalty is the right choice.

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It's was irrelevant. It doesn't matter if he was raidicalized by a cleric at the MSB, his brother or online, his past actions shouldn't mitigate his abhorrent actions in 2013.

It like saying "well he onced help an elderly lady carry her groceries."

I'm very happy with he's sentancing. There's no place in civilized society for scum like him.

He'll finally get to meet his maker, dirt!

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he made me mad he should die

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...and people like me could actually sit on a jury on a case like this. You want blood. That's vengeance, not justice.

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based on the criteria. But, it is why I could not have served on the jury as I cannot support the death penalty. Sad, sad day.

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People like you and me don't exist in death penalty cases. In short, we have no voice.

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Either...

Or

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Federal Bureau of Prisons: We are "not in possession" of lethal injection drugs. (Statement to MSNBC tonight)

This creates an awkward situation. The government might not even be able to kill him and the SCOTUS is to rule on the lethal injection next month. The drugs also can't be acquired anymore, as the pharmas are against their drugs being used for capital punishment now.

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They could use the Chair, hanging, firing squad, or gas chamber.

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They cannot. The federal death penalty is lethal injection and only lethal injection.

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to include various types of execution. This obsession with creating a kinder, gentler execution by way of lethal injection is just a ploy to end capital punishment. HANG HIM, or use The Chair, gas chamber, firing squad. Enough of this crap already.

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In fact, it can be even worse than a rope, a rifle squad, the electric chair, or even the gas chambers, because the person being executed via a lethal injection dies even more painfully, and horrifically.

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I measure every Grief I meet
With narrow, probing, eyes –
I wonder if It weighs like Mine –
Or has an Easier size.

I wonder if They bore it long –
Or did it just begin –
I could not tell the Date of Mine –
It feels so old a pain –

I wonder if it hurts to live –
And if They have to try –
And whether – could They choose between –
It would not be – to die –

I note that Some – gone patient long –
At length, renew their smile –
An imitation of a Light
That has so little Oil –

I wonder if when Years have piled –
Some Thousands – on the Harm –
That hurt them early – such a lapse
Could give them any Balm –

Or would they go on aching still
Through Centuries of Nerve –
Enlightened to a larger Pain –
In Contrast with the Love –

The Grieved – are many – I am told –
There is the various Cause –
Death – is but one – and comes but once –
And only nails the eyes –

There’s Grief of Want – and grief of Cold –
A sort they call “Despair” –
There’s Banishment from native Eyes –
In sight of Native Air –

And though I may not guess the kind –
Correctly – yet to me
A piercing Comfort it affords
In passing Calvary –

To note the fashions – of the Cross –
And how they’re mostly worn –
Still fascinated to presume
That Some – are like my own –

***

My brother is doing Life w/out parole in CO. I was hoping that Dzhokar could have a similar benefit towards redemption. (Maybe still possible.)

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I am opposed to the death penalty as are most Boston and and Massachusetts citizens. However given the aeriuous nature of these crimes, I am less upset about seeing this young man execued.

It's important to remember that in an act of political grandstanding Attorney General, Eric Holder made the decision to both try this in a Federal court ND to make this a death penalty case superseding the tradition of federal prosecutors observing state policies about the death penalty.

The result is that the taxpayer is on the hook for a much more expensive trial which will drag on for years.

The irony is that despite all of the politiclal rhetoric today about closure for the victims, the larger Federal capital trial will prevent that closure from years to come.

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Walsh: "closure"? A death sentence means years if not decades of appeals. We could even have an entire new trial in a few years' time depending on what the defense attorneys come up with on appeal.

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From the Globe article:

In the end, the jury sentenced Tsarnaev specifically for the bomb he placed in front of the Forum restaurant on Boylston Street that killed 8-year-old Martin Richard and Lingzi Lu, a 23-year-old Boston University graduate student from China.

The jury chose life sentences for the charges Tsarnaev faced that related to the bomb that was placed by his older brother, Tamerlan — the bomb that killed Krystle Marie Campbell, 29, of Arlington. They also did not impose a death sentence on the charges that involved the fatal shooting of MIT police officer Sean Collier.

I think that's telling. The jury may indeed have been convinced by the "Tamerlane was responsible" argument, but not where Dzhokhar placed his own bomb.

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