/ Globe Staff / January 30, 2014
US Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has authorized federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the young man accused in the Boston Marathon bombings in April that killed three people and injured more than 260 others.
"After consideration of the relevant facts, the applicable regulations and the submissions made by the defendant's counsel, I have determined that the United States will seek the death penalty in this matter. The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision," Holder said in a statement.
Prosecutors notified a federal judge in Boston today of the decision.
"We support this decision and the trial team is prepared to move forward with the prosecution," Boston US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said in a statement.
US District Court George A. O'Toole Jr. had given prosecutors until Friday to make the decision, saying it would be "a significant event in the life of the case."
With the authorization, the US attorney's office can move forward in requesting a trial date. The death penalty can also now be a factor in any plea negotiations.
Tsarnaev, 20, faces 30 federal charges, many of which carry the possibility of the death penalty, for setting off the April 15 bombs that plunged the region into terror for five days, until his arrest in Watertown. His older brother and alleged accomplice, Tamerlan, 26, was killed in a firefight with police.
Krystle Campbell, 29, Lingzi Lu, 23, and Martin Richard, 8, were killed. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev also faces state charges in the fatal shooting of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier, who authorities say the brothers killed as they began their flight from the area.
"While I understand the public interest in this matter, we have rules that limit the release of information and the scope of public statements. The process by which this decision was made is confidential, and I will not comment further about that process other than to say that it entailed a careful and detailed consideration of the particular facts and circumstances of this case," Ortiz said in the statement.
Prosecutors in federal cases where the death penalty is a possibility are required to decide at the outset whether to seek the penalty. As attorney general, Holder had the ultimate authority to make the decision.
Prosecutors from Ortiz's office and defense lawyers were allowed to file confidential recommendations to Holder in recent months, stating their arguments for and against the death penalty. Ortiz has not said what her recommendation was.
O'Toole has appointed four defense attorneys to represent Tsarnaev, including Judy Clarke, who specializes in death penalty cases.
If Tsarnaev is convicted, prosecutors would still have to present their arguments for the death penalty to a jury in a separate sentencing trial. Assistant US Attorney William D. Weinreb has said in previous court hearings that a trial could last three months, and that the separate sentencing trial could last an additional two months.
Holder's decision means the federal court system in Massachusetts will have two pending death penalty cases. The United States is also seeking the death penalty for Gary Lee Sampson, who carjacked and killed three people in the same week in July 2001. A federal jury agreed to issue the death sentence for Sampson in 2003, but a federal judge vacated that decision in 2011, after finding that one of the jurors withheld information about herself during a screening process. An appeals court upheld the decision, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty again.
Federal prosecutors have sought the death penalty two other times in Massachusetts. In the case of Darryl Green and Branden Morris, two Dorchester gang members, federal prosecutors ultimately dropped the charges and the men were tried in state court. In the case of Kirsten Gilbert, the former nurse who was convicted in 2001 of administering lethal injections to patients, a jury chose a life sentence rather than the death penalty.
Since 1988, when federal death penalty laws were first passed, juries nationwide have had to choose a punishment for 282 defendants. They've chosen death in 73 instances, or 34 percent of the time, according to Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel, which tracked the figures through October.
A Globe poll in September showed that 57 percent of Massachusetts respondents supported a life sentence for Tsarnaev, compared with 33 percent who favored the death penalty. The Boston Bar Association made a public declaration earlier this month in opposition of the death penalty, saying it only offered the "illusion of ultimate punishment." The group noted that death penalties, even when granted, are rarely carried out.Continued...
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