The Supreme Court Appears Ready to Reinstate the Boston Marathon Bomber’s Death Sentence
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared to lean toward reinstating the death sentence imposed on the Boston Marathon bomber, though the court’s liberal justices were incredulous about the actions of the district court judge in the original trial.
The question in Wednesday’s case was not Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s guilt, but whether he was properly sentenced to death. Although Massachusetts has abolished the death penalty, Tsarnaev was convicted on 30 federal charges and sentenced to death for six of those crimes. But a federal appeals court in Boston subsequently overturned the death sentences.
The justices focused on the trial judge’s refusal to allow evidence that the defense said would show that Dzhokhar, 19 at the time of the bombing, was under the influence of his brother Tamerlan, seven years older.
