Nate Raymond

BOSTON, (Reuters) – Mikey Borgard was injured and Liz Norden suffered injuries when the bombs exploded just before the Boston Marathon’s finish line. The explosions sent shrapnel through crowds of hundreds. Two of Norden’s adult sons were left with broken legs. Borgard was diagnosed with hearing impairment and suffered a brain injury.

Yet they and others affected by the attack that killed three people and wounded 264 more disagree about whether convicted bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should be executed – a question the U.S. Supreme Court will consider https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-boston-tsarnaev/u-s-supreme-court-to-consider-restoring-boston-marathon-bombers-death-sentence-idUSKBN2BE1S4 on Wednesday when the justices hear the U.S. government’s bid to reinstate his death sentence.

Norden who was with Norden during the three-month 2015 trial said, “I know that a lot people didn’t want to receive the death penalty for his own reasons.” Everyone is entitled to do what they want. It was my wish.

Borgard was also present at the trial and is opposed to executions.

He said, “It’s very easy for people to claim that they are anti-death penalty until someone happens.” In this case, I wasn’t pro death penalty.

The Supreme Court is set to hear the federal government’s appeal of a lower court ruling overturning Tsarnaev’s death sentence https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boston-bombings-appeal/boston-marathon-bomber-dzhokhar-tsarnaevs-death-sentence-overturned-by-appeals-court-idUSKCN24W2XN and requiring a new trial to determine whether he should get life in prison instead.

Two brothers from Chechnya committed one of the worst attacks against U.S. soils since Sept. 11, 2001.

Tsarnaev (now 28 and 19 years old) and Tamerlan, his younger brother, detonated homemade pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the marathon on April 15, 2013. Lingzi Lu (23) was a Chinese exchange student. Krystle Camp, 29, is a restaurant manager. Martin Richard (8).

The brothers spent four days hiding in Boston, but tried to escape, killing Sean Collier, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology officer. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police. His younger brother stole his car and ran Tamerlan over.

Jurors in 2015 found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty https://www.reuters.com/article/us-boston-bombings-trial/tsarnaev-convicted-in-boston-bombing-may-face-death-sentence-idUSKBN0MZ0ZI20150408 of all 30 counts he faced and later determined he deserved execution for a bomb he planted that killed Lu and Richard.

REVERSAL

Boston’s 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the judge who tried to screen jurors was not sufficiently thorough in considering biases following widespread news coverage of bombings. They ordered a fresh death-penalty trial.

Tsarnaev was told by the 1st Circuit that even though he wasn’t executed, he would be in prison for his entire life. Tsarnaev remains in Florence’s federal prison, “Supermax”.

The Justice Department filed its appeal under Republican ex-President Donald Trump and it was continued by Democrat Joe Biden after he took office, even though Biden opposed the use of death penalty by the federal government.

Opposition to the death penalty, as shown in opinion polls, has increased in the United States, while its use has declined https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/dpic-reports/dpic-year-end-reports/the-death-penalty-in-2020-year-end-report. Massachusetts, a liberal-leaning state in the United States, has been among those states to abolish capital punishment. According to polls conducted in 2013, 2015 and 2016, a majority Boston residents favored Tsarnaev receiving a lifetime sentence.

The marathon will be run this year on Monday. This is two days prior to the Supreme Court arguments.

Tsarnaev was not punished for his crimes even during the trial. Martin’s parents Denise Richard and Bill Richard, published an open letter in 2015 in Boston Globe. In it, they urged prosecutors to not pursue death penalty.

Andrew Lelling (ex-top federal prosecutor) in Massachusetts said survivors had different views during conferences calls that were held over the years.

Lelling explained that this is one problem of death-penalty litigation. It just keeps going on for too long and to the disadvantage of victims, who are forced to endure the endless appeals.

Borgard (aged 30) expressed concern that the Supreme Court’s conservative 6-3 majority could use the case to justify the execution of “other human beings.”

Borgard explained that this means for me that I have been implicated in another case. Borgard stated, “And that’s not something I can accept at all.”

Norden, who is 59 years old, stated her support for execution for Tsarnaev has not changed. Norden asked, “If this does’t justify the death penalty.