Should the Boston bomber be executed? Part II
My answer to that question is “yes”
and if you go back in my blog to my immediate previous article (Monday May 18th)
you will see why I gave an affirmative answer to that question as you read my views
on the death penalty for terrorists that I gave in a speech to over 100 nations
at a United Nations crime conference held in Milan in 1985.
Background of the Tsarnaev brothers
The
Tsarnaev brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar came of age in Cambridge, a town in
the State of Massachusetts, USA that prides itself as
embracing immigrants who are fleeing conflicts in their own countries. Still,
almost two years after the Boston marathon bombing, there's little consensus on
how the brothers rejected their acceptance by the people of Cambridge and eventually
transformed themselves from striving young immigrants into ruthless killers.
The
Tsarnaev family was forcibly moved from Chechnya to the Soviet republic of
Kyrgyzstan in the years following World War II. Anzor Tsarnaev (the brother`s
father) is a Chechen, and Zubeidat Tsarnaeva (the
brother`s mother is an Avar (modern North Caucasian-speaking
people in the North Caucasus), The couple had two sons, Tamerlan, born in the Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1986, and Dzhokhar, born in Kyrgyzstan in 1993.
Anzor is a
traditional Muslim who reportedly shuns religious extremism and raised his
children as Muslims. In April
2002, the Tsarnaev parents and Dzhokhar went to the United States on a 90-day tourist visa. Anzor Tsarnaev applied for asylum, citing fears of
deadly persecution due to his ties to Chechnya. His request was granted.
Their mother, Zubeidat
Tsarnaeva was a petty thief. She was arrested for
shoplifting and destruction of property
The charge against her was a felony since the value of the merchandise was
$1,600. The store she stole the dresses
from was Lord & Taylor, the same company whose security cameras captured
the bombers at the marathon. As many as nine dresses were involved in the theft.
Their mother fled from the US before the case was heard in court, so a warrant
remains outstanding for her arrest.
Their father, Anzor was a scumbag. He ignored laws and had no ethics. He obtained
cars in bad shape, made cosmetic fixes and then sold those vehicles for a
profit while the cars were still dangerous to drive. A
neighbor said that Anzor regularly threw his trash in neighbors’ recycling bins
despite being asked to stop He also filled precious spaces in this
parking-starved city with cars he was working on, and claimed a 10-minute
loading zone as his all-day storage space for his cars. These are petty
offenses, but what stands out in the neighbor’s account is Anzor’s
imperviousness to any form of reproach: “No matter how many times people told
him it wasn’t right, he did it anyway.” said one of his neighbours. These infractions are nothing like terrorism however a family
with two parents liked those two losers and two pot-selling kids is, on its
face, a family with a culture of bending or breaking the law. Zubeidat’s flight
from justice, coupled with that line about Anzor—“No matter how many times
people told him it wasn’t right, he did it anyway”—doesn’t suggest a lot of remorse, either.
Despite having rotten parents, Tamerlan
was a top Golden Gloves boxer. He only spoke about his faith. He was big into
religion. Tamerlan attended a Mosque in Cambridge with his brother. He didn't
condone drinking and partying.
Dzhokhar was a steller athlete and the
captain of his high school wrestling team. He was popular with his fellow
students. He was not a loner. In 2011—the year of his high school graduation—he
won a $2,500 dollar educational scholarship from the City of Cambridge. He
enrolled at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and chose to study
nursing, talking about wanting to help people. On Sept. 11, 2012, Dzhokhar took
the oath to become an American citizen.
But something changed in the minds of these two brothers. But what was
it that changed these two young men into two evil monsters?
Tamerlan’s life started to take a
dark turn. He dropped out of community college He became very violent toward
his wife and was brainwashing her into converting into being a Muslim. In 2009
a domestic violence complaint was filed against Tamerlan. His father who was
living in Russia told a reporter that the complaint filed against his son was
the reason his eldest son couldn’t become an American citizen and this made
Tamerlan angry. Tamerlan is
quoted as saying, “I don't have a single American friend, I don't understand
them.” Most accounts of Tamerlan’s history point to a
brutal temperament. He wasn’t just a boxer. He also struck people outside the
ring. The Los Angeles Times wrote, “In 2007,
Tamerlan confronted a Brazilian youth who had dated his younger sister, Bella,
for about two years, and punched him in the face.” A friend of Bella “said
Tamerlan did not approve of the relationship because the boy was not a Muslim.”
According
to most accounts, Tamerlan found God and renounced boxing as an offense against
Islam. But this leaves a puzzling question: “How can a man blow up innocent
people in the name of a religion which, by his own reckoning, forbids punching
them in a boxing ring?” It would appear to him that he mustn’t hit people in
the face, but it’s OK to shred their legs with a bomb.
On the
Russian-language social-networking site, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
described his view of the world as being Islamic and his personal priorities as
having a good career and having money. He posted links to Islamic websites,
links to videos of fighters in the Syrian civil war, and links to pages
advocating independence for Chechnya. He was struggling academically, having received seven failing
grades over three semesters, including Fs
in Principles of Modern Chemistry, Introduction to American Politics, and
Chemistry and the Environment and
had an unpaid bill of $20,000 to the University. He was known to be selling marijuana to make money.
After their mother fled the US, both brothers were living more or less on
their own so there was no real guidance being given to them by parents who
could keep them on the straight and narrow path. Their mother certainly wasn’t
a good role model from whom they could learn the attributes of honesty,
citizenship and respect for others.
The motives for the bombings
Their motivation for
the bombings was apparently political in nature. Dzhokhar's handwritten note
inside the boat where he lay bleeding stated, “The [Boston] bombings were in retribution
for the U.S. crimes in places like Iraq and Afghanistan and that the victims of
the Boston bombing were collateral damage, in the same way innocent victims have been collateral
damage in American wars around the world.” After Dzhokhar was arrested, he told the FBI
that he and his brother were angry about the American wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq and the killing of Muslims in those two countries.
The when
and where of the bombings
It is obvious that the two Tsarnaev brothers wanted to kill
or maim as many of the American infidels that they could and it didn’t matter
to them whether or not the deaths of the infidels were men, women, children or
babies just so long as the victims were killed and/or maimed for life. These are the real aims of terrorists.
They chose April 15, 2013 as the day of their
carnage and the finishing area of the Boston Marathon on Boylston Street just off Copley Square in the heart of the city. They
knew that there would be a greater number of people in that specific area of
the marathon.
The police had previously searched the marathon
finish line area for bombs twice before the explosions occurred. They saw
nothing that was amiss. Almost
three-quarters of the 23,000 runners who participated in the race had already
crossed the finish line when one of the two bombs that had apparently been placed on
the ground exploded around 2:50 p.m. in a haze of smoke amid a crowd of
spectators on Boylston Street. Soon after, another bomb exploded. The twin
explosions went off 10 or more seconds apart within 100 yards of each other.
The two improvised
explosive bombs
The two bombers chose two pressure
cookers for their bombs. Anyone who is familiar with pressure cookers is aware
that they can be sealed tight. Rudimentary improvised explosive devices using pressure cookers
to contain the initiator, switch, and explosive charge (typically ammonium
nitrate, RDX or black powder or
smokeless powder, frequently
have been used in Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Pressure cookers are
common in these countries so their presence probably would not seem out of
place or suspicious to passersby or authorities. They certainly would be out of place if
placed within a crowd of people in the United States. For this reason, the two
pressure cookers were placed in knapsacks by the two Boston Marathon bombers. I
don’t know what explosives they used in their bombs. Such a bomb explodes, by
over-pressuring the containment, (pressure cooker) and then spreading the
burning material by the inherent pressure released by the containment failure.
There is little or no detonation shockwave produced in this type of device,
however most of the damage is done by the objects placed in the bombs as
shrapnel that
fly outwards at a high speed. The
impact on humans can be devastating. The explosions, which were set off near the
finish line, killed three people and injured more than 170 of which 14 victims
lost both or some of their limbs.
The explosive devices used in the attacks in
Boston were similar in size to the device used in the 1996 attack at the
Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta but were not nearly as large as the truck-laden
explosives used in Oklahoma City. In the Atlanta attack, a pipe bomb was
detonated near pedestrians, killing 2 and injuring more than 100 numbers similar
to the Boston Marathon bombings.
The bombing left three individuals dead, including 8-year-old
Martin Richard of Boston and 29-year-old Krystle Campbell of Medford, Massachusetts.
A third
victim was identified as
Lu Lingzi, a Chinese Boston University graduate student. Many victims
remained in Boston hospitals with various injuries. Two children – a 9-year-old
girl and 10-year-old boy – were among the 17 victims listed in critical
condition.
The father of 8-year-old
Martin Richard described making the agonizing decision to leave his mortally
wounded son so he could get help for their 6-year-old daughter, whose leg had
been blown off.
Officials revealed that the bombing devices used by the Tsarnaev brothers were made out of ordinary
kitchen 1.6 gallon pressure cookers placed in black duffel bags. Investigators said the
pressure cookers were filled with shards of metal, nails, ball
bearings and small BBs. Officials found an electronic circuit board used as a
detonation device. The chief of emergency medicine at Brigham and Women's
Hospital, Dr. Ron Walls, said in a press conference that one patient had a
carpenter nail in him and two others had shiny round pieces of metal debris in
them. The impact of these items would be strong enough to damage limbs so
severely; they would have to be surgically removed.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III conceded on Thursday that a
lack of formal communication within the agency prevented investigators from
alerting Russian authorities that Tamerlan Tsarnaev had returned to Russia
before the Marathon bombing, information that Russians have asserted could have
averted the act of terrorism. I have no idea whatsoever as to what the Russians
learned about this man while he was in Russia. If he was simply visiting his
father, that wouldn’t be enough to warn the Americans that he was planning to
kill Americans.
Mueller also told a congressional panel that the government’s
recently revealed surveillance techniques helped spur an investigation of
Ibragim Todashev, age 27, an associate of Tamerlan Tsarnaevn. An FBI agent in Florida shot Todashev to death
in May 2013 during an interview related to his and Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s role in
a Waltham, Massachusetts triple homicide.
The triple homicide
was committed on the evening of September 11, 2011. Brendan Mess, Erik
Weissman, and Raphael Teken were murdered in Mess's apartment. All had their
throats slit from ear to ear, with such great force that they were nearly decapitated. Thousands of
dollars' worth of marijuana and $5,000 were left covering their mutilated
bodies. The local district attorney said that it appeared that the killer and
the victims knew each other and that the murders were not random.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, had previously
described murder victim, Brendan Mess as his best friend, though before Mess
was murdered, there had been animosity between Tsarnaev and Mess over Mess's
lifestyle. ABC reported that
authorities believe Tsarnaev and his younger brother may have been responsible
for the triple homicide since forensic evidence connected them to the scene of
the killings and that their cell phone records placed them in the area. The FBI
has alleged that just before he was killed, Todashev made statements
implicating both himself and Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the Waltham murders by saying
that the initial crime was a drug robbery and the murders
were committed to prevent them from being identified by the victims.
The hunt for the two bombers
Boston and
surrounding areas were in a complete lockdown. Three days later, the FBI
announced that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and his older
brother, Tamerlan, were suspects in the case after they were discovered by
released photos and videos of the two brothers. That evening, police were
called to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus, where a 26-year-old
university police officer, Sean Collier, had been fatally shot while sitting in
his car. Media reports covering the incident stated that investigators believed
the Tsarnaev brothers were responsible for shooting Collier which later turned
out to be true.
The brothers then
carjacked a vehicle and fled to Watertown, Massachusetts, where a gunfight
ensued following a police chase in the early hours of April 19, 2013. The two
brothers fired shots at the police and even flung pipe bombs at them. Tamerlan
Tsarnaev was shot by police in the shootout and when his brother tried to
escape by driving the car they high-jacked over his brother, he killed his
brother. Later that day, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured after he had earlier hid
in a boat in the yard of a home in Watertown. After being threatened by the surrounding
police, he climbed out of the boat and was taken to a Boston hospital to be
treated for injuries, including a neck wound that some investigators believe
was self-inflicted. I along with millions
of viewers watched his capture on TV.
The trial of Dzhokhar
Tsarnaev
The trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings began on March 4, 2015, in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, nearly two years after the pre-trial hearings. Tsarnaev was arraigned on 30 charges, including four for murder. He pled not guilty to all 30 counts against him, which included using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death. He was represented by Miriam Conrad, David Bruck, William Fick, and Judy Clarke. Judge George O'Toole was the presiding judge of the trial. Selecting a jury took two months.
Opening
statements took place on March 4, 2015. Assistant US Attorney William Weinreb
opened for the prosecution. He gave graphic details of the bombings,
while some of their family members were in the courtroom listening. Weinreb said eight-year-old Martin
Richard “bled to death on the sidewalk,” Lingzi Lu had the “inside of her
stomach pouring out,” and Krystle Campbell was left with “gaping holes” in her
body. It was revealed on the
first day that Tsarnaev stood on Boystlon Street for four minutes before
placing a backpack with a bomb in it on the ground. After planting the bomb
Tsarnaev went shopping for milk at Whole Foods after the bombing as if
"nothing had happened. He didn’t say anything about the bomb that Tamerlan
had placed on the ground because he was dead and therefore not on trial.
Jurors also learned that Stephen Silva, a friend of Tsarnaev’s, provided the 9mm Ruger pistol that killed MIT police officer Sean Collier while the Tsarnaevs attempted to escape. Collier was shot three times in the right hand, twice in the side of the head and once between the eyes. Weinreb didn’t say which of the two brothers shot Collier but it didn’t matter since both would be culpable for the murder of Collier.
The prosecution
contended that the Tsarnaev brothers were inspired by Al Qaeda, and it was by reading Inspire, an Al Qaeda-sponsored online
publication, that they learned how to construct the bombs.
Tsarnaev’s lawyers admitted that their client had planted the bomb but they tried to say that Dzhokhar acted under the influence of Tamerlan. That argument went about as far in the minds of the jurors that a centipede would go with no legs. An argument like that one is like that of a drowning man reaching for a straw in hopes of being saved from drowning.
On the second day of the trial, (March 5) seven witnesses testified about what they saw before, during, and after the blasts. The testimony of Bill Richards, Martin's father, caused several in the courtroom to cry, including at least one juror. Iraq war veteran and Boston police officer Frank Chioloa, testified about the last moments of Krystle Marie Campbell, and fellow officer Lauren Woods did the same about Lingzi Lu Woods. The officer refused an order to leave Lu's side after she died. Jeff Bauman, a victim who lost both legs, appeared in court wearing shorts. A photo of him being pushed in a wheelchair by “the man in the Cowboy hat,” Carlos Arredondo, was widely circulated after the blasts. He testified that he noticed a nervous Tamerlan leaving a backpack on the ground moments before it exploded.
By the third day of testimony, (March 9) jurors had heard from 27 witnesses who were either injured in the explosions, or who attempted to help those who were. Jurors also saw a compilation of security camera videos that show the Tsarnaev brothers approach the finish line, place the bombs on the ground, and then walk away. It was also revealed that Tsarnaev had a secret Twitter account with which he posted his extremist Islamic views.
James Hooley, head
of Boston Emergency Medical Services, testified ambulances brought 118 victims to
hospitals. Police vehicles
were also used to transport victims, and every available Boston Police resource
was brought to the scene.
On April 8, 2015,
Tsarnaev was found guilty on all thirty counts of the indictment. The charges
of usage of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, in addition to
aiding and abetting, made Tsarnaev eligible for the death penalty.
Bill and Denise
Richards, parents of the youngest of the three killed in the bombings, urged
against a death sentence for Tsarnaev. They stated that the lengthy appeals
period would force them to relive that day continually, and would rather see
him spend life in prison without possibility of release.
It is understandable
why they wanted immediate closure and the only way they could get it would be
if Tsarnaev was sentence right then to life in prison without parole. However, if they thought that would bring
closure, they were wrong because if Tsarnaev appealed the conviction and the
sentence of natural life in prison, they would still not get closure for years
to come.
On May 15, 2015, the jury
recommended to the judge that Tsarnaev be sentenced to death by lethal injection on six counts of the indictment. Federal death sentences are carried
out at the United States Prison at Terre Haute in Indiana. At present, he is being held in the Special Confinement
Unit (death row) at that federal prison. He will remain there for years as his lawyers
appeal their client’s conviction and sentence.
There is no doubt in my mind that
when the day of his execution arrives, the victims and their survivors will be
permitted to watch his execution via a
cable TV feed. Perhaps then, they will get some kind of closure. Unfortunately,
there will never be full closure for them but they will know that the person
who caused them so much misery in their lives will have paid for his crimes
with his life. That at least will bring them some satisfaction.
As to be expected, there will be
soft-hearted, soft-headed sob-sisters wailing and saying that only God has the
right to end a person’s life. Their cries and tears will be meaningless to the
vast majority of us who recognize the right of the United States to execute
this fiend. After that is done, the sob-sister’s God can do what he, she or it
wants with that monster’s soul.
UPDATE: June 24, 2015: For the sentencing to death decision of the jury to be legal, the sentence of death has to be passed on to the defendant by the trial judge. That occurred on June 24th. But before this killer was sentenced to death by the judge, the killer was asked if he had anything to say. His apology was a five minute address peppered with religious references and praise of Allah.Then he said to the relatives of the victims he murdered and the victims who lost limbs, "I am sorry for the lives that I have taken, for the suffering I have caused you and for the damage I have done. I pray for your relief [and] for your healing." Many present in the court didn`t believe his apology was sincere and neither do I. If he was looking for sympathy from the judge, he got about as much sympathy that a cockroach gets when it is stepped on. US District Judge George O'Toole Jr. said just before he passed the sentence of death on Tsarnaev, `The evil that men do lives after them. The good is often interred with their bones.`I guess what he was tying to convey was that Tsaraev will be remembered in history but his victims will be forgotten. No-one will remember that Tsaraev`s teachers were fond of him, that his friends found him fun to be with or that he showed compassion to disabled people. What will be remembered of him¸is that `he willfully and intentionally murdered and maimed innocent people. He is currently in the death row Unit in the State of Indiana. If appeals are to follow, it could be decades before this cockroach is put to death.
It is too bad that the Americans did`not take heed of my address I gave in 1985 ìn Milan at the United Nations Congress on crime prevention when I suggested that after a sentence of death is passed on to the terrorist, the Supreme Court of the country is given the transcript of the trial and if they find no fault in how the trial was conducted, they then permit the execution to take place within days of their decision.I am in my eighties so I probably won`t learn what his final statement was before he got the needle that puts him to sleep permanently.
It is too bad that the Americans did`not take heed of my address I gave in 1985 ìn Milan at the United Nations Congress on crime prevention when I suggested that after a sentence of death is passed on to the terrorist, the Supreme Court of the country is given the transcript of the trial and if they find no fault in how the trial was conducted, they then permit the execution to take place within days of their decision.I am in my eighties so I probably won`t learn what his final statement was before he got the needle that puts him to sleep permanently.
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