A lawyer for the Biden administration on Wednesday called Tsarnaev a "terrorist" who acted in "furtherance of Jihad" and urged the justices to restore the jury's recommendation of death after the "carnage at the finish line. The justices spent most of their time focusing on the evidence that a district court excluded from the penalty phase of the trial.
Tsarnaev's lawyers sought to compel discovery about an unsolved triple murder that had occurred in in Waltham, Massachusetts. Investigators came to suspect a friend of Tamerlan, Ibragim Todashev, as being involved in the crime. Todashev initially denied involvement to agents, but eventually asked for a deal. He said he had been involved but that Tamerlan had actually committed the murders by slitting the throats of the victims.
Todashev had begun to write a confession but then attacked the agents who shot and killed him. Dzhokhar's lawyers sought to include the evidence because they argued it supported their proposition that their client did not deserve the death penalty, because he was only acting under the direction of his older brother who played a much greater role in executing the bombings at the marathon, as evidenced by his past experience.
In court Wednesday, Tsarnaev's lawyer Ginger Anders said it was "central to the mitigation case" demonstrating that the brothers were not equal partners in the crime.
She said that the district court's error compromised safeguards needed to ensure that her client received an appropriate penalty. But Deputy Solicitor General Eric Feigin called the evidence "unreliable hearsay" from a "dead man with a powerful motive to lie" and said the information was not central to the jury's final verdict. He said the murders remain unsolved and that there was insufficient evidence to describe Tamelan's true role in the crime to the jury.
Feigin said that the jury decided to recommend death because Dzhokhar positioned himself "behind a group of children, putting down his backpack. In court, conservative justices seemed to agree with Feigin suggesting that the district court had been correct to exclude the evidence because it had never been proven and could be misleading to the jury.
Justice Samuel Alito asked sarcastically at one point whether a district court had to adopt a policy of "anything goes" when it comes to admitting testimony. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said he viewed a district court judge as having a "gatekeeping role" to keep out unsubstantiated evidence, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett noted that rules allow information to be excluded if it is "misleading.
But liberal justice Elena Kagan said that the evidence was the kind that should be admitted, especially because it was so central to Tsarnaev's case. She wondered if it didn't represent a "classic case" of evidence that might be "highly relevant. If the appellate ruling were affirmed, Tsarnaev would have to face a new sentencing trial if the Biden administration decided to continue pressing for a death sentence. The Supreme Court should make a decision by June Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after a gunfight with police.
Jurors convicted Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on all 30 counts he faced and determined he deserved the death penalty for a bomb he planted that killed Martin Richard, 8, and Chinese exchange student Lingzi Lu, Restaurant manager Krystle Campbell, 29, was killed by the second bomb. The jury will now decide if the year-old will face the death penalty or receive a life sentence in prison.
Justice Department argues that an appeals court improperly vacated the death sentence in the case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Who is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev? Rolling Stone defends Boston cover. Death sentence for Boston bomber. Image source, Boston Globe via Getty Images. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his elder brother Tamerlan planted bombs close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon on 15 April Rolling Stone defends Boston bomb suspect cover. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
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