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The verdict is in for the Boston Marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and the jury has recommended a death sentence.
The jury only needed 14 hours to reach its verdict on the 17 counts where he could be sentenced to death, and found for the death penalty for six of those. The only other choice for sentencing on those charges would have been life in prison. The attack killed 3 people and injured 264 people. It was the worst attack on US soil since the attack on 9/11.
AlterNet reports:
Their only other option was life without the possibility of release in America's toughest "super-max" prison in Colorado, which some have dubbed the "Alcatraz of the Rockies".
[...] "'No remorse, no apology'. Those are the words of a terrorist convinced he has done the right thing", US assistant attorney Steven Mellin said.
[...] Judge George O'Toole will now formally sentence Tsarnaev at a hearing expected to be held later in the year.
[...] The verdict in the federal case came despite widespread local opposition to capital punishment in Massachusetts, a largely Democratic state that abolished the death penalty in 1947.
Prominent survivors, including the parents of the youngest victim Martin Richard, had also opposed the death penalty on the grounds that years of prospective appeals would dredge up their agony.
[...] Since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988, only 79 people have been sentenced to die and only three have been executed, says the Death Penalty Information Center. Three other death verdicts were turned into life sentences after new trials were granted.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Sunday May 17 2015, @01:49PM
He'll be a martyr to his cause, I'm not even sure what that cause is or was any longer, even if he spends the rest of his life in ADX. The process will just be longer and more horrible. First you'll have all the idiots going around "Free Tsarnaev!" and there will be endless press about how cruel ADX is and when he eventually dies in perhaps 40-50 years he'll finally be a martyr anyway. The ride to martyrdom will just have been a lot longer then necessary. Also if he wasn't insane before he'll probably be it after a decade in his cell. He doesn't seem like the type that can cope with that kind of solitary. In that regard life or death doesn't matter all that much.
It might have been lost in the news-feed but I do recall him, Tsarnaev, wanting the death penalty. Unless that was some horrible attempt at reverse psychology shouldn't that put a damper on the appeals process? If they are appealing it is against his wishes, which I guess could be interpreted as "insane" and in that regard someone else takes over on his behalf. Which is where all the money will be lost. I'm sticking with "lost" cause I doubt there is really a lot, or anything, that can be learned from observing or interviewing him anymore.
(Score: 3, Informative) by q.kontinuum on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:07PM
Letting him die of age is not the same as killing him. I don't think any religious zealot would consider that martyrdom. Some idiots rallying for the freedom of such a mass murderer wouldn't concern me, it's just an opportunity for existing zealots to go public and making it easier to have an eye on them.
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JNCF on Sunday May 17 2015, @03:57PM
He'll be a martyr to his cause, I'm not even sure what that cause is or was any longer, even if he spends the rest of his life in ADX.
I think that he made his motive pretty clear, it's just that most news agencies didn't make a big deal of it. If you're interested, here it is: [go.com]
I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is his messenger (hole) r actions came with (hole) a (hole) ssage and that is (hole) ha Illalah. The U.S. Government is killing our innocent civilians but most of you already know that. As a M (hole) I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished, we Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all, well at least that’s how Muhammad (pbuh) wanted it to be (hole) ever, the ummah [community of Muslims] is beginning to rise/awa (hole) has awoken the mujahideen ["holy warriors"], know you are fighting men who look into the barrel of your gun and see heaven, now how can you compete with that. We are promised victory and we will surely get it. Now I don’t like killing innocent people it is forbidden in Islam but due to said (hole) it is allowed.
Osama Bin Laden has also cited the U.S. Government's foreign wars and starvation-inducing sanctions as being valid justification for violence against America. It's no secret why these people hate us, it has nothing to do with "our Freedom." It has to do with the fact that our government is murdering their people in way higher numbers than 9/11 and the Boston marathon bombing put together. Denying the existence and clarity their motives will do nothing to stop this problem at its root. If you really didn't know what the stated motives for these attacks were, it's because you never cared enough to google it.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 17 2015, @05:59PM
> I think that he made his motive pretty clear, it's just that most news agencies didn't make a big deal of it.
I think there are two lessons to be taken from this trial:
(1) It is entirely possible to treat terrorism as a crime and process it through the normal criminal justice system. No elimination of civil rights, no special prisons, no special military tribunals. Just a crime like any other.
(2) Terrorism does not get your message out. All the news coverage is about the victims and the event itself. Practically zero effort is given to coverage of motivations. If the goal is to shine a spotlight on injustices, it is a total failure.