New penalty phase of the trial has been ordered by U.S. District Judge George O'Toole.
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New penalty phase of the trial has been ordered by U.S. District Judge George O'Toole.
I'm still shocked this trial was allowed to be held any closer than New Haven is to Boston, that corner of CT being the only part of New England not part of Red Sox Nation.
Trump will probably clear out the backlog of inmates this year he’s been set off by that horrid ruling. He was asked about earlier and he called it ridiculous.
Watertown police 'disheartened' by decision to overturn Boston Marathon bomber's death sentence
Watertown police officers are "disheartened" by the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn the death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Authorities say Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, set off the bomb near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 2013, killing three people and injuring more than 260 others. Tamerlan Tsarnaev later died in a shootout with police.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death in 2015 after being found guilty of 30 counts connected to the fatal marathon bombing on April 15, 2013.
However, appeals judges overturned the decision Friday, more than six months after arguments were heard in the case, and ordered a new penalty phase trial.
The Watertown Police Department tweeted a statement on Saturday expressing its disappointment with the court's decision. The department's police officers were involved in a shootout with the Tsarnaev brothers in Watertown on April 19, 2013.
"His unconscionable acts of terrorism during the 2013 Boston Marathon and subsequent days has forever altered the lives of so many," the department tweeted. "We continue to mourn the loss of those who died; our hearts are always with their families and the hundreds of survivors impacted by this tragic event."
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Watertown Police
@WatertownPD
The members of the WPD are disheartened by the decision of the United States Federal Appeals Court to overturn the death penalty sentence of the Boston Marathon bomber. His unconscionable acts of terrorism during the 2013 Boston Marathon and subsequent days,
1:25 PM · Aug 1, 2020
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Watertown Police
@WatertownPD
has forever altered the lives of so many. We continue to mourn the loss of those who died; our hearts are always with their families and the hundreds of survivors impacted by this tragic event. #watertownstrong#BostonStrong
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@watertowngov
1:24 PM · Aug 1, 2020
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Watertown Police
@WatertownPD
The members of the WPD are disheartened by the decision of the United States Federal Appeals Court to overturn the death penalty sentence of the Boston Marathon bomber. His unconscionable acts of terrorism during the 2013 Boston Marathon and subsequent days,
1:25 PM · Aug 1, 2020
Gov. Charlie Baker tweeted Friday night that the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing and their families "deserve justice."
"I hope this case is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Baker tweeted.
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Charlie Baker
@MassGovernor
The Boston Marathon bombing was an act of terrorism that devastated families and residents across the Commonwealth and beyond. Victims and their families deserve justice and I hope this case is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
8:00 PM · Jul 31, 2020
In December 2019, Tsarnaev’s lawyers argued in front of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston that the death penalty ruling should be thrown out. They argued that Tsarnaev did not receive a fair trial, saying the trial should have been moved out of Boston, rather than it being held where the bombing occurred.
They also pointed to social media posts from two jurors suggesting they harbored strong opinions even before the 2015 trial started.
Tsarnaev’s lawyers said one of the jurors, who would go on to become the jury’s foreperson, published two dozen tweets in the wake of the bombings. One post after Tsarnaev’s capture called him a “piece of garbage.”
One juror had said in Twitter posts that that she was “locked down” with her family during the manhunt and retweeted another post calling Tsarnaev a “piece of garbage,” but later told the court she had not commented on the case or been asked to shelter in place, the defense said. On the day of Tsarnaev’s sentencing, the juror changed her Facebook profile picture to an image that said “BOSTON STRONG,” a rallying cry used in the wake of the bombing, the attorneys said.
The appeals judges, in a hearing on the case in early December, devoted a significant number of questions to the juror bias argument. They asked why the two jurors had not been dismissed, or at least why the trial judge had not asked them follow-up questions after the posts came to light on the eve of the trial.
The judges noted that the Boston court has a longstanding rule obligating such an inquiry.
The three-judge panel agreed with Tsarnaev's lawyers in the 240-page decision handed down Friday.
"Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's convictions on Counts 13, 15, and 18 are reversed, and the district court is directed to enter a judgment of acquittal on those counts," the ruling, which was entered at 3 p.m. on Friday said. "Dzhohkar Tsarnaev's death sentences on Counts 4, 5, 9, 10, and 14 are vacated, and the matter is remanded to the district court with directions to hold a new penalty-phase trial.
"But make no mistake: Dzhokhar will spend his remaining days locked up in prison, with the only matter remaining being whether he will die by execution,” the judges added.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston said they were reviewing the opinion and declined further comment as of Friday night.
Former Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officer Dic Donohue, who was severely injured in a gunfight with the brothers, said the ruling was not surprising to him.
“And in any case, he won’t be getting out and hasn’t been able to harm anyone since he was captured," he tweeted.
The mother of Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old killed in the attack, expressed outrage at the court's decision.
“I just don’t understand it,” Patricia Campbell told The Boston Globe. “It’s just terrible that he’s allowed to live his life. It’s unfair. He didn’t wake up one morning and decide to do what he did. He planned it out. He did a vicious, ugly thing.”
President Donald Trump weighed in on the ruling during an address to supporters on the tarmac of Tampa International Airport.
"I see in Boston, where you have the animal that killed so many people during the Boston Marathon,” Trump said. “They just sent this conviction for the death penalty back to the lower courts so they’ll argue about that for a long time. It’s ridiculous.”
"Since the first trial, we have always known that the perpetrator of that horrific violence would never leave the four corners of a prison cell," Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said in a statement. "I have always supported the judicial process, and regardless of the ultimate outcome in this case, my focus will always be on supporting the families, the survivors, and all the people of our great city."
The ruling comes less than a month after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to resume federal executions for the first time in 17 years.
https://www.wcvb.com/article/former-...-home/33489345
Prosecutors Seek To Extend Deadline To Appeal Overturning Of Boston Marathon Bomber's Death Sentence
Federal prosecutors said Monday that they need more time to decide whether to ask an appeals court to reconsider the case of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose death sentence was thrown out over concerns about the jury selection process.
The U.S. Justice Department urged the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to give prosecutors until Sept. 14 to file a petition asking the full court to hear the case. They currently have until Friday to file a petition for rehearing.
"The process of determining whether to seek further review takes time, particularly in a case of this magnitude, because it requires input from various components within the Department of Justice. Additional time is needed to make the decision in this," DOJ attorney William Glaser wrote in a court filing. The solicitor general will make the decision, Glaser wrote.
Prosecutors, who have not yet publicly commented on the ruling, could also decide to go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court last month threw out Tsarnaev's death sentence in the 2013 bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 260 others. The appeals court said the judge who oversaw the case did not adequately screen jurors for potential biases and ordered a new penalty-phase trial on whether the 27-year-old should be executed.
Tsarnaev was convicted in 2015 on 30 charges, including conspiracy and use of a weapon of mass destruction. The 1st Circuit upheld all but a few of the convictions.
His lawyers did not dispute his involvement in the attack, but argued he was less culpable than his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died in a gunbattle with police a few days after the bombing.
An attorney for Tsarnaev said after the ruling that "it is now up to the government to determine whether to put the victims and Boston through a second trial, or to allow closure to this terrible tragedy by permitting a sentence of life without the possibility of release."
https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/08/10...al-prosecutors
Assuming it isn’t reinstated en banc, do you guys think SCOTUS would take this up?
I’m not sure why they would bother filing for en Banc rehearing because 50% of the judges who would sit en Banc have already ruled on the case.
The First Circuit is the smallest appeals court in America with only 6 judges, 3 of whom were already on the panel.
Even if the 3 other judges vote to hear the case (only one is a GOP appointee), one of the judges who sat on the Unanimous panel would have to change their mind.
Prosecutors Get Another Month To Decide Whether To Appeal Tsarnaev's Death Sentence
(AP) - A federal appeals court has agreed to give prosecutors another month to decide their next step after the court tossed Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's death sentence.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week said prosecutors can have until Sept. 14 to file a petition asking the full court to rehear the case. The government's petition was initially due on Friday.
Prosecutors asked for more time to decide whether to ask the court to reconsider the case, saying the process "in a case of this magnitude" requires input "from various components within the Department of Justice." Prosecutors could also appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A three-judge panel of the appeals court last month threw out Tsarnaev's death sentence in the 2013 bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 260 others. The appeals court said the judge who oversaw the case did not adequately screen jurors for potential biases and ordered a new penalty-phase trial on whether the 27-year-old should be executed.
Tsarnaev was convicted in 2015 on 30 charges, including conspiracy and use of a weapon of mass destruction. The 1st Circuit upheld all but a few of the convictions.
https://amp.wbur.org/news/2020/08/12...mpression=true
So they can still appeal.
He's never going to be executed, so all this drama is pointless.