Family Of Boy Killed In Boston Marathon Bombing: No Death Penalty For Dzokhar Tsarnaev

This morning’s edition of The Boston Globe led with a gut-wrenching letter from the parents of one of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. Bill and Denise Richard, whose eight-year-old son was killed by one of the bombs, penned an open letter to federal prosecutors asking that they drop plans to seek the death penalty for Dzokhar Tsarnaev, the man convicted of killing their son and two others.

The Richard family at a memorial service for the Boston Marathon bombing victims (courtesy The New York Times)
The Richard family at a memorial service for the Boston Marathon bombing victims (courtesy The New York Times)

This letter is especially ironic, since eight-year-old Martin Richard is one of the reasons Tsarnaev faces the death penalty. When Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he would seek the death penalty for Tsarnaev’s crimes at the 2013 Boston Marathon, one of the aggravating factors he stressed was that Martin was especially vulnerable because he was a child. However, Bill and Denise fear that any verdict of death will force their family to “prolong reliving the most painful day of our lives,” given that it is all but certain a verdict of death will trigger years of appeals. They are particularly concerned for the well-being of their two surviving kids, Jane and Henry. The appellate process, Bill and Denise say, would force Jane and Henry to “grow up with the lingering, painful reminder of what the defendant took from them.”

This is not an idle concern on the Richards’ part. Prosecutors have argued that the entire city of Boston was victimized by Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed in a standoff with police. The defense tried to turn this back on the prosecution, contending that if Boston as a whole was a victim, the trial shouldn’t be held there–especially considering it’s a death penalty case. That alone makes it very likely that if the jury decides on death, the ink will barely be dry on the death warrant before Tsarnaev’s attorneys file an appeal. They had actually offered to have Tsarnaev plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life without parole, but plea bargain talks stalled when the area U. S. Attorney, Carmen Ortiz, refused to take the death penalty off the table.

This letter may complicate matters for the prosecution, since they are in the position of pushing for the death penalty in a state where the death penalty has been abolished, and where public sentiment is strongly against the death penalty. According to a poll taken for WBUR, one of the area’s NPR members, 58 percent of Boston-area residents want Tsarnaev to spend the rest of his life in prison. Tellingly, support for the death penalty actually dropped during the trial–even after weeks of grisly testimony. In contrast, a CBS News nationwide poll found 60 percent of respondents wanted the death penalty.

Daniel Medwed, a law professor at Northeastern University, thinks Bill and Denise’s letter raises “a profound moral question” for Ortiz and her team. While they do not–at least technically–speak for the victims, Medwed wonders if they will reconsider relying on Martin’s grisly death in their push to send Tsarnaev to death row. However, Jeremy Sternberg, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in Boston, thinks the letter will make little difference since the Richards are “one of a number of victims.”

The entire Richard family was at the finish line when the first bomb went off. Jane lost her left leg, Denise was blinded in her right eye, and Bill had his eardrums punctured. Henry was traumatized by witnessing much of that day’s carnage. Yet, they believe that pushing for the death penalty would force them to “live a story on his terms, not ours.” I have to agree. Given that there never was any doubt that Tsarnaev was guilty and that the appeals process will only make him a martyr, it’s probably best to, in the Richards’ words, “end the anguish (and) turn the page” by locking Tsarnaev up and throwing away the key.

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.