Supreme Court reinstates death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

[The Grand Illuminist]

Source: Washington Post

By Robert Barnes
Today at 10:24 a.m. EST|Updated today at 10:49 a.m. EST

The Supreme Court on Friday reinstated the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted in the 2013 attack that killed three people and left hundreds injured.

The vote was 6 to 3, with the liberal justices in dissent.

The Supreme Court reversed a decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit. In July, the panel agreed with Tsarnaev’s lawyers that the judge overseeing his 2015 trial did not adequately question potential jurors for bias in the case, which received massive publicity.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/04/supreme-court-reinstates-death-penalty-boston-marathon-bomber-dzhokhar-tsarnaev/

[Polybius]

1. I have to side with the conservative Justices on this one

Strange world.

[Miguelito Loveless]

8. Given how the death penalty is tainted

politically and racially as to its invocation, I can never support the death penalty in any circumstance. And that is before we even address human fallibility, prosecutorial/police misconduct, and plea bargaining.

[ShazzieB]

41. Same here.

I am anti death penalty, and I really wish this country would join the rest of the civilized world in abolishing it.

[Warpy]

19. I'm not

There is ample evidence this was a feckless kid under the heavy thumb of his older brother, who was the bomb builder and fanatic.

Recovering from being shot to pieces and serving a life sentence would serve justice more than having the state kill him.

Justice without mercy is just bloody minded vindictiveness. No thanks.

[hlthe2b]

32. I agree. I oppose the death penalty across the board. This guy was a kid at the time & his brother

called the shots. Sad, but true.

DP is a travesty in this case. Life without parole is certainly not a great alternative for Tsarnaev, but it is just.

[Demsrule86]

28. Not me, I am absolutely against the death penalty.

[SCantiGOP]

37. I don't agree

One, the death penalty is arbitrary, racist and flawed. Innocent people have been executed and will again in the future.
Two, he will be a hero martyr in some jihadist circles and may be an inspiration for future attacks.

I would rather he spend the rest of his life in a jail cell knowing that he will never get to see the outside world again.

[Chainfire]

2. Well then, I guess he needs to get his affairs in order.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. I wonder if any defense lawyer in capital cases has argued

that the ups and downs of off-again on-again death penalty cases are cruel and unusual in themselves. Being a political football, will they kill me, will they not? It has an existential absurdity to it, with added stress if you're the football.

[onenote]

26. whether the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment has been extensively litigated

In Furman v. Georgia 408 US 238 (1972) three Justices seemingly accepted the argument that the death penalty was cruel and unusual because it was applied so infrequently as to be arbitrary and even "freakish". But a majority of the Court has never accepted that view.

[mvd]

3. I'm opposed in all cases

That Supreme Court sure seems invested in trying to revive a declining practice. The conservatives are also likely wrong on procedure here.

The President is also opposed to the DP. So I guess this was a case where the Department of Justice had their hands tied?

[TheProle]

14. An editorial with some color on this from last Fall

trigger warning: it's critical of the president.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-10-16/joe-biden-death-penalty-hypocrisy-boston-bombing

[mvd]

22. Thanks

Maybe they just didn’t want to get involved in an established case.

Anyway, I agree that if I support it once, it defeats the whole purpose for me.

[Demsrule86]

29. Thanks for the warning, I won't bother to read it.

[Traildogbob]

4. What I like about this

As a liberal, is we have a long list of treasonous traitors, “maybe” heading to trial. The constitution gives the judges the power to use the penalty stated in the constitution. There are a bunch of pro death penalty GQP that may start bitching about death penalties and screaming pro life even louder. We should use their gallows, teinfired with steel to support the slobfather. PPV. Proceeds go to infrastructure.

[LudwigPastorius]

17. I seriously doubt any of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists will be charged with treason.

Treason has a very specific legal meaning, namely siding with or fighting for an enemy that has declared war against the U.S.

At most, they could be charged with Rebellion/Insurrection, Seditious Conspiracy, and Advocating the Overthrow of the Government...none of which call for the death penalty if convicted.

[Traildogbob]

18. I agree

But let a guy dream good dreams. Especially in the midst of non stop nightmares. I actually want them all to suffer a very long time locked away. Without orange paint or a comb, girdle or lift heels. After a year give him that Time mag cover he dreams of and let the world see his real image.

[The Grand Illuminist]

21. It will take congress to expand the definition of treason

To include insurrection and sedition.

[onenote]

25. It will take a constitutional amendment.

[Dial H For Hero]

5. Good. He deserves it.

[Demsrule86]

30. No one deserves the death penalty in my book...state sanctioned murder.

[Dial H For Hero]

38. State sanctioned killing? Objectively true. Murder? A matter of opinion.

[Demsrule86]

43. It is murder IMHO.

And given how imperfect our justice system is ...very unfair. I refuse to serve on juries...the last time in Georgia I almost ended up in jail for contempt. But the prosecutor said I won't choose her anyway...thank goodness. I offered to file, run errands...do anything but I won't sit on a jury. I would never convict. Our jails allow essentially torture and the color of justice is green.

[BobTheSubgenius]

7. I sometimes have trouble making the argument against a terrorist like this monster, and others.

However, my bedrock position is that the death penalty is morally the wrong thing for the state to be doing, and it is too often wrong. Even once is too often.

Look at the history of it in Illinois, for example.

[COL Mustard]

10. I knew a guy years ago who killed three people and wounded several others

In a botched bank robbery. He and I had been in the Army together for a little while until he was asked to leave. I never realized what a sociopath I'd had as a beer drinking buddy until then. He deserved it. If you're interested, the prosecutor wrote a book called "The D-Day Bank Massacre". As far as I know, the guy is still rotting in prison in Pennsylvania. His cohort in crime died a few years ago. But I hear your argument about the death penalty and for the most part I agree. I used to not.

[BobTheSubgenius]

15. I was not a watcher of Oprah, but I saw the teasers from this episode and wanted to watch.

The GOP Governor of Illinois had just retired, and was talking, for the most part, about his executive order halting capital punishment, despite having supported it in his reelection campaign.

He was quite rattled to hear that a death row inmate had been conclusively exonerated by the Innocence Project and thought that, if this case had been botched so badly, how many others? Temporary moratorium until all death row cases had been meticulously reviewed was put in place.

In the time he had been Governor, IL had executed 26 convicts, and this investigation turned up the fact that 13 of the condemned currently on Death Row were not guilty of the crimes that put them there. Some were released, and some were guilty of other crimes, but it was still a cold dash of water in his face. Obviously, it was more than likely that at least one of those 26 received no justice at all.

That, combined with the fact that you were up to 8 times more likely to get a death sentence in any county but Cook County said to him that the 14th Amendment wasn't being applied.

During the show, people were allowed to ask him questions and make comments. A family was just LIVID that "their" death row inmate had been exonerated, and the governor, while he didn't say it, was clearly nonplussed by the apparent fact that this family didn't care if the wrong man died for the crime, as long as SOMEONE died.

The entire circus was appalling, except for the Governor's very principled stand. So that's the centerpiece of most of my .....uhhhh....discussions about capital punishment.

[The Grand Illuminist]

11. There are moments that people must swallow their pride.

And come to terms that things like this serves the greater good.

[Demsrule86]

31. No they don't. There is no good in the death penalty.

[The Grand Illuminist]

33. If there is no exception

Then we lose ultimately.

[Demsrule86]

44. We lose what exactly? Life with no parole is a death sentence of sorts.

Our justice system is completely immoral IMHO. And no one should be executed under it.

[stopdiggin]

35. There is no really good argument that the death penalty

serves anything like the 'greater good.' And I think the argument for 'deterrence' has been especially refuted and debunked. We continue this practice primarily for the reason - that we want to.

[JohnSJ]

13. This actually was about if he received a fair trial, not about capital punishment

[stopdiggin]

36. quite correct. -(nt)-

[ShazzieB]

42. The history of the death penalty in Illinois had a lot to do with my becoming opposed to it.

I was on the fence for a long time, but have been firmly opposed to the death penalty for almost 20 years now. The thing that flipped me from "not sure" to "no way" was reading Scott Turow's book, Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Experience on Dealing with the Death Penalty, in which he wrote about his experience serving on the Illinois commission which investigated the administration of the death penalty with the intent of making recommendations for reform. In the book, he describes how he shifted from being what he called a death penalty "agnostic" to becoming opposed to it, in the process of studying the various arguments for and against it and (especially) the many problems with its administration.

It's a terrific book, imo, and a quick and gripping read, at only 164 pages. I can't recommend it highly enough, for people on either side as well as those are undecided, as I was. It may not be enough to convince those who are strongly in favor of the death penalty, but I think anyone who reads it will, at the very least, come away with a clearer understanding of the reasons why some of us oppose it.

Anyone who's interested can read more about it here: https://www.complete-review.com/reviews/legal/turows.htm

[oldsoftie]

9. Should've been executed 8 years ago. More wasted money on a guilty party.

[JohnSJ]

12. Actually the issue was not about the death penalty, but if Tsarnaev received a fair trial

They were determining if he received a fair trial

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

16. Kick

[MissMillie]

20. you beat me to it... I'll remove mine (n/t)

.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

23. Abolish the death penalty.

[Raine]

24. Good. nt

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

27. Normally, I disagree with the death penalty, but in this case, ...

... nope, I still disgree with the death penalty.

Let him rot in prison, there's no need to execute him.

[TomSlick]

34. With the membership of SCOTUS for the foreseeable future,

capital punishment will be safe from constitutional attack.

Until there are personnel changes on SCOTUS, I will be surprised to see the Court set aside any death sentence, or affirm any Court of Appeals case setting aside a death sentence.

[mountain grammy]

39. The death penalty is wrong.

[Sapient Donkey]

40. Ugh. Let the guy rot in prison. Why execute him?

I wonder if the #FreeJahar movement is still active on twitter. Freaking weirdos.