President Donald Trump on Sunday demanded the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — whose execution was taken off the table by an appellate court last week.
“Rarely has anybody deserved the death penalty more than the Boston Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev,” Trump tweeted Sunday afternoon. “The court agreed that this ‘was one of the worst domestic terrorist attacks since the 9/11 atrocities.’ Yet the appellate court tossed out the death sentence. So many lives lost….”
“and ruined. The Federal Government must again seek the Death Penalty in a do-over of that chapter of the original trial,” he added. “Our Country cannot let the appellate decision stand. Also, it is ridiculous that this process is taking so long!”
Tsarnaev, 27, and his older brother Tamerlan killed three people and injured hundreds more when they detonated a pair of shrapnel-filled, homemade, pressure-cooker bombs along the famed marathon’s route April 15, 2013. Tamerlan later died in a shootout with cops.
Tsarnaev was sentenced to death in 2015 for his role in the horrific attack but appealed the ruling last year, claiming it was ridiculous to think there could be impartial jurors in Boston, where his trial was held.
The First US Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with him last week, saying jurors weren’t properly screened for the case.
Federal prosecutors now must decide whether they want to try to reverse the ruling, including by going to the US Supreme Court.
Even without the death penalty, Tsarnaev is currently in a federal “supermax” prison in Colorado — and will remain behind bars for the rest of his life, authorities said.