Boston Marathon Bomber Files Motion Seeking New Trial

[Panich52]

National Memo

Boston Marathon Bomber Files Motion Seeking New Trial

The preliminary motion for a new trial cited a lack of evidence in his trial this spring, according to documents filed in federal court in Massachusetts.

Read More
http://link.nationalmemo.com/5390d3d3dd52b8141a0aafe52stla.r5p/VZu64EmOvx_JvXs8A9f2d

[tymorial]

1. So begins the countless motions

I find the death penalty to be abhorrent and as such did not support the sentence. This motion though... lack of evidence? Really?

[Warpy]

2. Yeah, the kid confessed

and did so repeatedly, sometimes proudly until his brother's influence finally started to wear off.

I hate the DP, too, and think it was misapplied in this case by people who wanted to hit back. It's not going to work out that way.

[Fawke Em]

4. No he didn't.

I covered this trial some for an online magazine.

If he confessed - and we don't know for sure because it was a part of the FBI's 302, which are rife with errors - it wasn't presented in the trial. He had not been Mirandized in the hospital, so the defense fought it to the point that the prosecution did not use it in the trial. In any case, the jury did not hear he had confessed and could not judge him based on that.

There was never any word that he ever confessed "proudly," however.

His allocution - which won't be allowed in a new trial - he said he did it, but that was well after the sentence had been voted on, so it's a moot point.

That said, I found that whole trial RIFE with judicial errors. It was rushed to trial, it wasn't moved out of an obviously biased town, the entire jury was white, the defense didn't get some of the evidence it sought and, frankly, the judge was so obviously biased toward the prosecution that everyone in the courtroom conceded it.

I'm not arguing his guilt here (and I'm NOT bashing victims - people can discuss law without meaning to cause further harm to people who are already victimized - it's not a zero-sum game). I'm simply saying that the trial was another overreach in our "war on terror."

If we're to try terrorists in our judicial system - and I agree we should rather than go to war - then we need to do a more fair job at trial. If this trial were held in the South and the defendant was a black man, you'd probably be hearing more from legal scholars about how awful this trial was from a legal standpoint, but since it was Boston and the defendant is Muslim, you hear a rare peep.

As a result of a multitude of judicial errors, this defendant probably will get a new trial and these people will have to go through all this again. They should have done it correctly the first time instead of rushing into it and never offering him a plea for LWOP (which his attorneys say he would have taken).

I'll leave you with this, though: http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2015/04/03/murder-is-a-state-matter-harvey-silverglate-samantha-miller

[Adrahil]

7. Then what the heck did this mean?

From his sentencing statement:

Boston (CNN)Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ended his long silence on Wednesday, apologizing for the pain and suffering he caused his victims before a judge formally imposed his death sentence.

"If there is any lingering doubt, let there be no more. I did it, along with my brother," Tsarnaev said, referring to the bombings carried out by him and older brother Tamerlan. "I ask Allah to have mercy on me, my brother and my family."

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. Save your fingers.

It just isn't worth it, some days.......

[Fawke Em]

20. It's an allocution and not an admission.

But, that's legal shit.

[Adrahil]

31. Are you interested in Justice or legal gobbledygook?

And although I am not a lawyer, from the research I did, that statement would be admissible in any re-trial.

The dude did it. There is no doubt he did it. He even says he did it. The rest is just lawyers padding fees AFAIC.

[Betty Karlson]

11. VERY good points.

It was in the interest of the bereaved to conduct this trial carefully. If that wasn't the case, then justice has not prevailed.

The test of any justice system is how fairly it treats its most heinous criminals. The USA system is teetering in the brink of failure, as evidenced by this motion.

[Fawke Em]

25. Thank you.

I get hell any time I post the facts that I observed.

This case has a lot of secrecy which may or may not mean a damn thing, but it should not have been held in this manner.

The judicial system is broken for anyone not white (and I'm white). I just want fairness.

Really, I appreciate it.

[tymorial]

13. "the entire jury was white"

So was the defendant.

[Aristus]

16. Yeah. He was literally Caucasian.

n/t

[Fawke Em]

18. Not really. He is Muslim.

I'm Catholic and married to a Jewish Bostonian.

Muslim is the new black.

[tymorial]

36. I don't understand if you are being sarcastic or what

White people can be muslim unless you were making fun of the original OP. Perhaps I didn't catch the sarcasm?

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. Lack of what evidence?

Enjoy Supermax, loser.

[Fawke Em]

6. Who made the bombs?

I know you think you know, but, believe me, it was NEVER addressed during the trial.

The government’s own witness, FBI explosives expert David McCollum, testified he could not determine where the bombs were constructed—a fact seemingly forgotten by Chakravarty during closing arguments Monday.

And when prosecutors tried to explain away the total lack of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s fingerprints on the ‘bomb making’ materials, they simply tossed aside the pressing issue of who really constructed the marathon bombs and where:

“Inspire magazine [an Al Qaeda publication] advises to wear gloves when building bombs—it could mean the defendant was wearing gloves,” said Chakravarty. “But more important than who built the bombs is how they used the things.”

While no one was expecting anything other than a guilty verdict for Tsarnaev, the question of who built the bombs and where is a salient one. It should concern anyone who would seek to prevent future bombings.

http://whowhatwhy.org/2015/04/13/tsarnaev-guilty-but-who-made-the-bombs/

If he and his brother were, indeed, lone wolves, why wasn't this addressed at trial?

Please read my statement above about my general knowledge of this case and the legal issues that I saw in covering this case that should never have been allowed to occur.

Again, I'm not arguing his guilt or innocence - I'm arguing that the way this trial was conducted was a judicial overreach that threatens our Constitution. It should have been treated like any other death penalty case, but wasn't.

[geek tragedy]

9. "Again, I'm not arguing his guilt or innocence "

[tymorial]

15. lol

I so love that show. That guys is fantastic.

[Fawke Em]

22. So... our judicial system is like aliens to you?

I don't think he didn't do it. I think the court shiv is a bad thing.

[geek tragedy]

24. his entire defense strategy was to admit it and then ask for mercy nt

[Fawke Em]

26. Yes!

Yes, it was.

And it failed.

And he'll get endless appeals.

The fact is that he asked for life without parole in October 2013 and Carmen Ortiz refused.

Why?

[TheCowsCameHome]

10. Someone should tell that to Judith 'It was him" Clarke.

That's it - no more about this little piece of garbage.

[Fawke Em]

23. She has a reputation to uphold.

[TheCowsCameHome]

35. Her winning streak has ended.

Gee. What a shame.

She'll be reduced to appealing parking tickets after this setback. Not.

[KamaAina]

5. And Pitt was sure it was going to be about the repeated change of venue requests being denied

and he follows the case about as closely as anyone.

[realFedUp]

12. What a surprise

If you have the death penalty facing you....you have appeals. Duh and shame on jury decision.

[tymorial]

14. Agreed and it is the appeal process which makes the death penalty often more expensive than Life.

At the same time I believe that the current system in place at Supermax facilities to be cruel and unusual punishment. Perpetual and long term solitary confinement and isolation causes psychiatric breaks. Because humans are social creatures, it IS torture in my opinion. Some countries have ended solitary except for extreme circumstances or if extreme punishment is required. Even then it is for limited periods of time. I am not opposed to solitary in these circumstances. I do not support the death penalty in general but given this reality, I can't say that I wouldn't prefer to be put to death rather than eventually lose everything to madness.

[Fawke Em]

28. You made me happy.

This is what this trial should have been about - and you are either from Boston or sympathetic to it - so it makes me happy know that there are people there that know this isn't right. He's been in solitary since his incarceration and has an FBI agent when he meets with his attorneys.

I don't think he's innocent. I think that's it's crap that we don't care.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

29. "I think that's it's crap that we don't care."

What, exactly, should we feel?

[tymorial]

37. I live less about 5 miles from where they found him in the boat.

My cousin lived on the street where the firefight happened and the brother was shot. I worked with a woman who was volunteering at the site for where the bombs went off. She was in the hospital for weeks. She was hit in the head by another persons arm or leg.

[TheCowsCameHome]

17. This wretched little bastard

would have appealed if he was sentenced to five days.

[Fawke Em]

19. No. He would not.

He asked for LWOP and your federal prosecutor nixed it.

You need to read up instead of calling me names and shaking your smilie head upthread. He offered in October 2013 and Carmen Ortiz refused. She wanted DEATH.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

30. A prosecutor pressing for the maximum sentence under the law? UNHEARD OF!

[TheCowsCameHome]

34. You need to stop making excuses for him.

Last edited Wed Jul 8, 2015, 10:38 AM - Edit history (1)

Seriously.

"He asked", huh? - who gives a damn what "he" asked?

And he and his lawyers will appeal on any grounds in order to save his sorry ass, DP or not - even down to the lack of parking spaces near the court house or the color of the T busses on Atlantic Avenue.

[aikoaiko]

21. He can stretch it out as long as he can, but he's going to be executed

....eventually.

[Fawke Em]

27. Hopefully not.

God, I hope we get rid of the death penalty in this country (again) in my lifetime.

[Marrah_G]

32. He should have been sentenced to life without parole

Massachusetts does not have the death penalty for a reason.

[davidpdx]

33. The charges were federal, which is why the prosecutor went for the death penalty

Had he be tried by the state, it would have been a different story.