This article nicely summarizes the many legal issues presented by the investigation and prosecution of the Marathon bomber. We covered most of these issues in class, but in case you want some further reading. It sounds like the federal defender’s office will be representing him — this is an office of government lawyers that act as defense attorneys for clients that cannot afford lawyers and are charged with federal crimes.
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5 Comments
Kimberly Kinsman posted on April 23, 2013 at 10:45 am
This article really put things in perspective for me. At first I was confused how they would be able to get away without reading him his Miranda rights, but because of the public safety exception, it makes much more sense. While it does seem interesting to me, there seems to be so much evidence making him guilty that they wouldn’t even really need a confession from him or even need to use anything he says without a lawyer present. I feel that it would be most fair to try him at the federal level, because not only does the punishment match the crime (an eye for an eye…), but the comments in the article about the Massachusetts court being so invested in the issue, it would’t necessarily be fair to try him in front of such a bias group.
Robin Wan posted on April 26, 2013 at 8:58 am
I believe that the court should not come to a quick decision to sentenced Tsarnaev death penalty before gathering as much information regarding his motive and potential future attacks from other extremists. Since the bombing was classified as a terrorist act, the fact that Miranda Rights was not applied is a right decision from the prosecutor. Even though I believe Tsarnaev must pay for the deaths and injuries that he had caused, I do not agree with death penalty in any instance. To the issue of whether he should be tried in federal or state court, when there is a terrorist attack that result in national security problems, it must be tried in a federal court because it concerns to the safety of entire nation.
Aisana Aitzhanova posted on April 28, 2013 at 1:52 pm
I agree with the author of the article. There is no way this case is going to be treated fairly to Tsarnaev anywhere in this country. Because of the massive blow up in the mass media, everybody knows every detail of this terract. However, I have doubts that federal defender’s office will be able to perform on unbaised basis and, perhaps, would not try very hard to “save his life” because of such a pressure from a public, vitctims, and national securities. But, in my opinion, death sentence is unlikely because the precedent shows that even in the most extreme cases it has not been applied. Especially given his “impressive past” of friendships, academic achievements etc.
Yang Liu Steve posted on April 28, 2013 at 11:22 pm
Personally, I don’t think anyone in U.S. would like to fight hard for Tsarnaev to be honest. But, I am pretty sure that the lawyers provided by Federal Defender’s Office will do their job. And I think a death penalty is coming for Tsarnaev. I know the victim Lingzi. She is a great great great person. I hate Tsarnaev and terrorists just like everyone in Boston does. However, there is just no meaning for killing a person as a punishment. It’s a bit too easy for them. Nothing happen to Tsarnaev will bring Lingzi back. There are always some crazy people out there in this world no matter what. The only thing we can do to make victims’ families feels better is prevent this kind of tragedy happens again in the future.
Ronen Ben Yehuda posted on April 30, 2013 at 5:17 pm
I believe that several factors that the author say might have an influence (such as “the influence his older brother seems to have had on him and his own impressive past of sports, friendships and academic performance”) should be completely irrelevant in judging the appropriate sanctions. This terrible event should not have any excuses. Moreover, I agree with the author’s idea that the judge might find it “a burden on the community” if the trial was moved elsewhere, as basically all people involved in this tragedy were Boston residents. Lastly, I believe that the FBI is going to play a key role in this trial. It will be critical for them to find out whether Tsarnaev was actually associated to terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. This should determine whether Tsarnaev should be treated as an enemy combatant