Boston Bombing, Boston Marathon April 15th

[niky]

It would be a huge understatement to say what he did was sick and in extremely poor taste. But I have to ask, what did he do that was actually illegal? I understand he was charged with posessing a hoax device, but I've never heard of such a a law.

Anti-terrorism laws include "acts intended to intimidate a population or government." Telling people or suggesting that you are going to bomb them counts. Which is an angle to charge him with terrorism per se.

 

[BobK]

I seriously doubt he was trying to intimidate anyone. It was more of a particularly ill-advised bit of "street theater".

 

[niky]

Possible. Though it seems like the insanity defense is where they're going, from what the mother is saying.

Seeing some of his other videos... it's... not that hard to believe.

 

[Pupik]

It would be a huge understatement to say what he did was sick and in extremely poor taste. But I have to ask, what did he do that was actually illegal? I understand he was charged with posessing a hoax device, but I've never heard of such a a law.

The upshot is that incidents like this cause a lot of unnecessary (future) restrictions on the rest of us...For example, more searches and less allowed items at public events.

Should the need for one to create a spectacle or disturbance trump the desires of many?

 

[BobK]

The upshot is that incidents like this cause a lot of unnecessary (future) restrictions on the rest of us...For example, more searches and less allowed items at public events.

Should the need for one to create a spectacle or disturbance trump the desires of many?

So are you saying this kid should be punished for carrying around a rice cooker so that you'll be able to carry around your own rice cooker should you so desire? Not sure at all what your point is, I'm afraid.

Also, seems we need to start fighting back against the expanding police state this country is turning into.

 

[Pupik]

So are you saying this kid should be punished for carrying around a rice cooker

No...

Also, seems we need to start fighting back against the expanding police state this country is turning into.

...but it's assholes like this kid who are provoking the powers-that-be to come up with more restrictions on our liberty.

Give him an astounding littering fine and be done with it.

 

[Caz]

I domt think the victims and.the families of the victims of the bombing who were onsite for.the one year anniversary consider it littering.

 

[funnyguy344]

Well from what I heard there was a conspiracy about how the Boston Marathon was connected to sand hook and how the government wants to take away our guns. I mean it could be believable.

 

[Liquid]

No it couldn't.

Not without facts and evidence.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Jury selection for Tsarnaev's trial has begun, with the need to find twelve impartial jurors expected to be the biggest challenge:

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2015-...ial-of-accused-boston-marathon-bomber/5999706

 

[Sanji Himura]

AP fronted a most interesting question this morning, with a confession to the bombings already been made, why is Tsarnaev going to trial? To answer that question, AP asked some legal experts and a bombing survivor why.

Q: Why didn't Tsarnaev's lawyers persuade him to change his plea to guilty if the defense acknowledges he did it?

A: "A plea of guilty would result in them waiving all their appellate rights. There are some issues — the venue issue, the makeup of the jury — that they might want to bring to a higher court, so that's another reason they probably wouldn't plead guilty," said Boston College law professor Robert Bloom. "Further, they recognize that this is a two-phase trial and they want to do what they can during the first phase so as to start to make their arguments for the second phase ... the penalty phase."

Q: Why put the victims through this?

A: Rebekah Gregory, a woman who lost a leg in the bombing, was one of the first survivors to testify during Tsarnaev's trial. Hours after her testimony, she posted a letter to Tsarnaev on Facebook, saying facing him in court actually helped her.

"TODAY ... I looked at you right in the face ... and realized I wasn't afraid anymore. And today I realized that sitting across from you was somehow the crazy kind of step forward that I needed all along," she wrote.

Q: Why not just have a penalty phase for the jury to decide punishment instead of going through both the guilt and penalty phases of the trial?

A: "A competent death penalty defense lawyer — during the first phase — will present themes that are relevant to guilt — like diminished capacity, diminished responsibility — that are also entirely consistent with what's going to be said during the mitigation (penalty) phase," said Eric M. Freedman, a death penalty specialist and professor of constitutional law at Hofstra Law School.

"Death Penalty Defense 101 is to present a unified theme through the guilt phase and the penalty phase. ... Therefore, you are ill-advised to argue in the first phase, 'My client is innocent,' and in the second phase, 'My client is very sorry for what he did.' That's completely ordinary and being carried out in textbook fashion here. They are doing precisely what they are supposed to do."

 

[Dennisch]

Dzjochar Tsarnajev has been found guilty on all 30 charges.

How long does it usually take to come to a sentence?

 

[Pupik]

How long does it usually take to come to a sentence?

I'd imagine we'll know next week, since it's a matter of a life sentence or a death sentence.

 

[Dennisch]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if these two nutjobs had used guns and rifles instead of bombs, it would not have been a federal case, and no possibility for the death penalty?

 

[Tornado]

Not necessarily. It depends on whether the feds could have gotten it interpreted as terrorism instead of just a shooting. Because of the target, they probably could have.

 

[EvanJamesLee]

I keep seeing helicopters fly over my house now as the marathon comes closer. Two were flying side by side as I was walking home from school the other day. I live right along the race's route by the way.

I presumed that they were just scouting out potholes to fill because of the blizzard that screwed up our roads last winter but they have been flying over several times a day for the majority of this week, maybe they're looking for threats set up to avenge the Tsarnaev idiots.

Although it could be something else, I'm not sure.

 

[Sanji Himura]

I keep seeing helicopters fly over my house now as the marathon comes closer. Two were flying side by side as I was walking home from school the other day. I live right along the race's route by the way.

I presumed that they were just scouting out potholes to fill because of the blizzard that screwed up our roads last winter but they have been flying over several times a day for the majority of this week, maybe they're looking for threats set up to avenge the Tsarnaev idiots.

Although it could be something else, I'm not sure.

You're not wrong. They are tightening security for the marathon. But the issue is that terrorists don't strike a target twice (aside from the World Trade Center, but the difference between the two attacks was methodology).

 

[squadops]

Yeah but it makes people feel safe and confident, it's marketing to protect the local economy.

 

[Lizard]

Has anyone noticed the political game in all of this?

He was charged with using WMD's. Cough trying to rewrite what a WMD is to justify Iraq and Afghanistan cough.

 

[Dennisch]

Has anyone noticed the political game in all of this?

He was charged with using WMD's. Cough trying to rewrite what a WMD is to justify Iraq and Afghanistan cough.

He tried to mass murder, using a weapon of mass destruction.

 

[Joel]

Has anyone noticed the political game in all of this?

He was charged with using WMD's. Cough trying to rewrite what a WMD is to justify Iraq and Afghanistan cough.

Don't cut yourself on that edge.

 

[Dennisch]

Dzjochar Tsarnajev is going to be fried.

I say justice is served.

 

[DDastardly00]

Dzjochar Tsarnajev is going to be fried.

I say justice is served.

It will be lethal injection not the electric chair (since this was a Federal case not a state case).

 

[Dennisch]

It will be lethal injection not the electric chair (since this was a Federal case not a state case).

Doesn't matter. He got what he deserved.

 

[Lizard]

He tried to mass murder, using a weapon of mass destruction.

Yes. It is still a clear political game though. A bomb is a conventional weapon not a WMD.

Don't cut yourself on that edge.

? I got that off my uni lecturer not some anti war message.

 

[Dennisch]

Yes. It is still a clear political game though. A bomb is a conventional weapon not a WMD.

Why can't a conventional weapon be a WMD?

 

[squadops]

WMD charges where filed because that was the only way to seek the death penalty, as the state of Massachusetts abolished capital punishment 30 years ago. I don't see a connection with Iraq tbh.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2332a

 

[DDastardly00]

Doesn't matter. He got what he deserved.

Not yet he didn't. Kinda jumping the gun on this one, he was just sentenced today. I'm sure the ACLU or some other dumb organization will sue and he will be on Death Row for many years, probably 10. He will be sitting Solitary confinement in a supermax prison for a long, long time.... until the next legal battle is over.

 

[Dennisch]

Not yet he didn't. Kinda jumping the gun on this one, he was just sentenced today. I'm sure the ACLU or some other dumb organization will sue and he will be on Death Row for many years, probably 10. He will be sitting Solitary confinement in a supermax prison for a long, long time.... until the next legal battle is over.

Well, I didn't expect them to convict him and immediately give him his needle/bullit/amps/rope.

 

[Sanji Himura]

WMD charges where filed because that was the only way to seek the death penalty, as the state of Massachusetts abolished capital punishment 30 years ago. I don't see a connection with Iraq tbh.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2332a

Umm, it still would have been a federal case (terrorism), and the federal government still has the death penalty. The need for WMD charges is just overkill.

Any of the terror attacks in the last 20-25 years have had been investigated under federal jurisdiction. The OKC bombing, the two World Trade Center attacks, so on have been investigated under federal supervision, which means that the death penalty can, and has applied to the terrorists who bombed those buildings.

That isn't to mention the international uprooting that this may cause since some of their citizens were injured/killed.