Health & Fitness
The Senate Race, the Marathon Bombing & Your Rights
Massachusetts Senate Candidate Gabriel Gomez does not believe accused marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev deserves to be treated with the Constitutional rights of a US citizen.
With the race for the open Massachusetts Senate seat just a couple of weeks away, one of the issues that both candidates have spoken about was the prosecution of Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Republican candidate Gabriel Gomez, in particular, has staked out a strong and controversial position on the decision to try Tsarnaev for using weapons of mass destruction. On New England Cable Channel program “Broadside”, Gomez told host Jim Braude that he believes Tsarnaev should be tried as an enemy combatant, precluding his right to certain constitutional protections such as Miranda Rights and access to an attorney. When Braude asked if the reason for the enemy combatant charge has to do with the fact that Tsarnaev was born outside of the United States (citing Jared Loughner, the American who shot into a crowd in Tuscon, Arizona in 2010, severely injuring U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was not charged with enemy combatant status), Gomez nodded his head “yes”.
Whatever your political views, and whatever political headwinds carry forward in terms of message in the upcoming race, the results may have a significant impact on the civil liberties, criminal justice and basic rights of Massachusetts residents. In particular, the rights of the 87,000 estimated immigrants in the state may be affected - and rewritten - if the “enemy combatant” movement grows in support in Congress.
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Every citizen is entitled to Constitutional protections and rights under the law. That is one of the founding principles of our nation.
And it is deep in our local DNA. John Adams was born in Braintree, just a short distance from my office. (The map says it is Quincy, as the “North Precinct” of Braintree became Quincy in 1792.)
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Even before the US Constitution was written, and we were a free nation, Adams was an unflinching advocate for a fair trials and representation in court. He agreed to mount the legal defense for those accused of the Boston Massacre in 1770.
That is a tradition I am proud of. As a legal citizen, Tsarnaev deserves no less.
Russell Matson is a DUI and criminal defense lawyer in Braintree. His website is http://www.madrunkdrivingdefense.com
