The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider the Justice Department’s bid to reinstate a death sentence for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev was convicted in 2015 in the deaths of Krystle Campbell, Martin Richard, Lingzi Lu, and MIT police officer Sean Collier. The court said it would review an appeals court ruling from July that stated the death sentence couldn’t stand because a trial judge hadn’t properly screened jurors about their exposure to pretrial publicity about the case, causing biased jurors. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department filed its high-court appeal in the final months of the Trump administration, calling the case, “One of the most important terrorism prosecutions in our nation’s history,” urging the court to put it, “back on track toward its just conclusion.” The justices will hear the case during their next term, which begins in October.
This case will be the first test of President Joe Biden’s opposition to capital punishment, as Biden has pledged to seek the abolishment of the federal death penalty. Biden has not commented on how he planned to do so. The Associate Press reports White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not say how Biden, or his administration, would approach the case at the Supreme Court as Biden has questioned whether capital punishment is consistent with the fundamental values of the justice system, but has also acknowledged the horrific nature of the events caused by Tsarnaev. A further report by CNN stated that despite the appeals court vacating the death penalty, the judge declared Tsarnaev would remain in prison for the rest of his life for carrying out, “unspeakably brutal acts.”
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact CIMA Law Group.
CIMA Law Group Blog 