DOJ asks Supreme Court to reinstate death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

[Polybius]

Source: ABC News

The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to reinstate the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Tsarnaev was sentenced to death in May 2015 for the April 15, 2013, bombing that killed three.

However, a federal appeals court overturned the death sentencing last summer, ruling the trial judge failed to adequately question prospective jurors about if they had been biased by hearing about the case before the trial started.

The federal appeals court "improperly vacated the capital sentences recommended by the jury in one of the most important terrorism prosecutions in our Nation's history," the Justice Department argued Tuesday, claiming that a prospective juror's prior exposure to a case doesn't mean they can't be impartial.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/doj-asks-supreme-court-reinstate-death-sentence-boston/story?id=78289381

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[marble falls]

1. Death to the death penalty, just say no to state sanctioned murder.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

2. Sickening. He may not deserve to live but the death penalty is barbaric.

[Jilly_in_VA]

5. Agreed

We are now one of the few countries in the world with a federal death penalty. We should not be.

[PSPS]

3. Garland strikes again

[FBaggins]

4. Not so

The president could issue a moratorium or congress could end the death penalty (for federal crimes)

Short of that, DOJ is supposed to defend existing law.

[Socal31]

13. "DOJ is supposed to defend existing law"

I don't think that is what we actually want. I'd prefer my local MMJ collective NOT be thrown in federal prison for trafficking.

[former9thward]

15. Not so.

There is no law where if convicted there is a mandatory death penalty. With crimes that can carry a potential death penalty it is a judgment call by the prosecution whether to ask for it. In this case an appeals court reversed the judge's ruling. It is completely up to the DOJ in their judgment whether to accept that or appeal it. They have chosen to appeal it. It is on them.

[azureblue]

9. nope

and you know it's not true

[George II]

6. I think this is an ongoing procedure that had already started before Biden took office...

Once Biden puts out all the other fires he was left less than 5 months ago, I'm sure he'll commute the sentences of all who are on death row to life in prison. In the meantime, I would almost guarantee that if any execution dates are established (I seriously doubt that) he'll commute them as they come up.

I saw this story earlier on Twitter, and unfortunately some (not you Polybius) are using this as a negative toward Biden. I'm surprised this wasn't the lead story on Politico or The Hill, the usual anti-Democratic sites.

Although I'm 110% against the death penalty, I'm not worried about this - it'll be resolved in due time without any additional Federal executions.

[former9thward]

16. The "ongoing procedure" was from 2015.

The Obama/Biden administration asked for the death penalty originally.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

7. The death penalty is barbaric and has no place in a civilized society.

[AZLD4Candidate]

8. The state should have no right to take away from a person something it has no ability to give back

My campaign position on capital punishment.

Life in prison, you lose time, but if it's overturned, you still have your life to live.

Capital punishment, if it is proven the state was wrong, you're still dead and the state cannot resurrect you.

"It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" - William Blackstone

[azureblue]

10. asset seizure and other uses for the death penalty

like if you get stopped with a pile of cash, the cops take it because they say it's for drugs. Never mind that you could be on you way to buy a car in cash or for down payment on a house. or eminent domain.Wake up - the government takes all the time, and refuses to give back even when proven to be wrong.


My take on the federal death penalty is yes, this is a good time to reinstate it, because we have several leaders and citizens who have committed treason, and that carries the death penalty. Every person who invaded the US Capitol, who called for hanging the VP and Pelosi, AOC, who supported through words and finances, attempted to overthrow by coup, teh government. And that is treason. Hang a few of them and watch those nut cases suddenly decide to be civil.

[AZLD4Candidate]

11. Assets can't defend themselves. Civil Forfeiture is a violation of the the 5th, 7th, and 8th

amendments simply because these laws are worded "in the commission of a felony." Conviction means nothing, acquittal means nothing.

Do you need to be as aggressive and rude, as well as condescending, in your third sentence when you bark an order to "wake up."

You support state sponsored murder. . .that's your thing. I agree to disagree. I don't want to be on the same list of death penalty countries like North Korea, China, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, and Burma.

If you want the US to be included in that list, that's your issue.

Have a wonderful night.

[Socal31]

12. You must be young, or very naive.

Guess who actually suffers more when the Establishment is given more power, as you are suggesting? Black people, brown people, the poor, and actual Leftists. See: War on Drugs, Patriot Act, etc.

[AZLD4Candidate]

17. My quote only deals with death penalty

You think I am advocating giving the government MORE power?

I've lived in countries where government has complete power.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

14. John Adams expanded on Blackstone while defending British troops involved in the Boston Massacre

It is of more importance to the community that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt should be punished; for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world, that all of them cannot be punished....when innocence itself, is brought to the bar and condemned, especially to die, the subject will exclaim, 'it is immaterial to me whether I behave well or ill, for virtue itself is no security.' And if such a sentiment as this were to take hold in the mind of the subject that would be the end of all security whatsoever.

On the other hand, Felix Dzerzhinsky. head of the NKVD under Stalin said, 'Better to execute ten innocent men than to leave one guilty man alive." One of his successors, Nikolay Yezhov, restated this argument: "Better that ten innocent people should suffer than one spy get away." Ironically, Yezhov was executed in 1940 during one of Stalin's purges.