Death Penalty Complicates Boston Bomber Trial

Jury selection began Monday for the trial of alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev faces 30 charges, 17 of which could bring the death penalty.

Tsarnaev is being charged in the 2013 tragedy that resulted in the deaths of three people and injured 260 others. He is also charged for allegedly shooting and killing an MIT police officer in Cambridge days after the bombings alongside his older brother Tamerlan.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers need to find 12 jurors and six alternates capable of deciding whether the 21-year-old is guilty. Jurors will also determine whether the suspect should be put to death, and that’s making for a lengthy jury-selection process, which could take weeks in itself.

Potential jurors are filling out surveys to help determine whether they are qualified to serve on the jury. They will be screened for impartiality and the ability to sentence Tsarnaev to death, if the verdict warrants it.

“Because so many people have to be removed, those who best represent the community won’t be a part of the jury,” says Frank Zimring, University of California Berkeley Professor of Law and capital punishment works author. There is concern that it will be hard to find impartial jurors.

Things to know about the death penalty in the Commonwealth:

• The last execution in Massachusetts, which was by electric chair, was in 1947.
• State courts struck down the death penalty in 1982, via Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
• Tsarnaev’s case allows for capital punishment for about 50 crimes, as he has been charged in the federal court system. The detonation of weapons of mass destruction resulting in death is one of those crimes.
• In a Boston Globe poll last summer, 62 percent of voters supported US Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to seek the death penalty while 29 percent opposed.

US District Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. said in court that he expects opening statements around Jan. 26 and also expects that the trial will last three or four months, according to NBC News.

“The Judge has predicted that jury selection will take a month because this bombing has caused a ripple effect of charged emotions throughout the community,” says Molly Murphy, a trial consultant in Santa Monica, CA. “There will be people who want the platform of the courtroom to voice their opinions about Tsarnaev and try to ignite others.”

Things to remember about the prosecution:

• Prosecutors plan to argue that Tsarnaev was intent on successfully executing a terrorist attack, according to The Boston Globe.
• There may be emphasis on Tsarnaev’s court appearance if he does not look remorseful. He notably smiled in court during his July 2013 hearing, via ABC News.

Things to remember about the defense plan:

• Defense lawyers will seek to portray Tsarnaev as an impressionable teenager influenced by his older brother (The Boston Globe).
• Defense has argued that there hasn’t been enough time to prepare for the trial. A trial delay request was already denied.

If jurors find Tsarnaev guilty of the bombings, they would have to determine his fate in a second trial with evidence and witness statements. The testimony may not begin until February, and a verdict may take until early summer.

Image via Patch story entitled FBI: Releasing Marathon Suspect Photos ‘Best Decision’.

See Also:

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