Boston Marathon Bombing Puts Death Decision in Holder’s Hands
By Erik Larson - Jan 27, 2014
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, accused in the deadly Boston Marathon bombing that killed three and injured more than 260, will probably face a capital punishment phase of his trial given the violence of the attack and the evidence against him, former federal prosecutors said.
The decision, expected this week, is in the hands of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who must sign off on any attempt to seek execution for a federal capital crime.
Holder is almost certain to seek death for the 20-year-old former college student, given the “heinous nature of the crime,” said Michael Kendall, previously a federal prosecutor in Boston and now a defense lawyer at McDermott Will & Emery LLP. “There won’t be a defense that he didn’t plant the bomb; the only thing there can be a real fight about is the death penalty.”
Holder’s decision comes as American prosecutors seek the death penalty less frequently. In 2013, Maryland became the sixth state in six years to end capital punishment, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The number of executions in the U.S. fell to 39 from 43 in 2012, only the second time in 19 years that there were fewer than 40 executions. There were 98 executions in the U.S. in 1999.
Tsarnaev, a Russian immigrant of Chechen descent who is now a U.S. citizen, is accused of plotting with his brother to detonate homemade bombs near the marathon’s finish line on April 15, 2013, in the first deadly terrorist attack in the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001. He pleaded not guilty in July to 30 counts, including the fatal shooting of a university police officer after the attack. A trial date hasn’t been set.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-27/marathon-bombing-puts-death-decision-in-holder-s-hands.html
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