Boston bombingU.S. will seek death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
The U.S. Justice Department announced that the United States will seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 20-year-old accused of detonating two bombs the Boston Marathon last Aril, killing three people and injuring more than 200 others. The younger Tsarnaev faces thirty counts in the bombing, including use of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death and the bombing of a public place. Since 1964, the federal government has only executed three people, including Timothy McVeigh who was convicted in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
The U.S. Justice Department announced that the United States will seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 20-year-old accused of detonating two bombs the Boston Marathon last Aril, killing three people and injuring more than 200 others.
U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement that “After consideration of the relevant facts, the applicable regulations and the submissions made by the defendant’s counsel, I have determined that the United States will seek the death penalty in this matter. The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision.”
Tsarnaev’s older brother, Tamerlan, was killed in a shootout with police.
The younger Tsarnaev faces thirty counts in the bombing, including use of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death and the bombing of a public place.
The charges against him also include the murder of a, NIT police officer in the days after the bombing.
The Washington Post reports that since 1964, the federal government has only executed three people, including Timothy McVeigh who was convicted in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
The New York Times notes that according to the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel, in nearly half of federal death penalty cases, prosecutors withdraw the threat of execution before trial, typically because of a plea deal.
A trial date has not yet been set for Tsarnaev who was injured while trying to escape a massive hunt for him conducted by the FBI and local police.
In 2011 Russia security officials had alerted their American counterparts to information that rached them about the older Tsarnaev’s involvement with Islamic militants in the Caucuses. Russian officials, however, did not provide more information and did not respond to inquiries made by the FBI.
Still, based on the limited information the Russians did provide, FBI agents in 2011 an assessment of Tamerlan’s case, but closed it after not discovering any indication the he or his younger brother were involved in terrorism. The assessment included interviews by FBI agents of the older brother, other family members, and acquaintances.
A senior U.S. intelligence official told the Post there was no evidence that the two brothers, ethnic Chechen refugees, had any assistance from overseas terrorists in carrying out their plan.
The brothers came to the U.S. in 2002 from the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, but became disaffected with life in the United States.
Authorities see Tamerlan Tsarnaev as the leader, with the younger brother more of a follower.
After the bombing, investigators also linked the older brother to a triple homicide in Waltham, Massachusetts on 11 September 2011.
