Sentencing the Boston Bomber

While the verdict was known for nearly a month, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death for his role in the Boston Bombing and killing law enforcement officers while on the lam. 

Tsarnaev said nothing throughout the guilt phase and maintained a stoic demeanor throughout the trial.  Hence it was shocking that Tsarnaev chose to speak as the final sentencing was handed down. Tsarnaev asserted his Muslim faith several times during his soft spoken five minute statement. Tsarnaev mouthed the words: “I am sorry for the lives I have taken and suffering I have caused you and the damage I have done.”

Most Boston Bombing victims speaking afterwards however  did not believe this mea culpa which lacked emotion and was uttered at the last minute.   Two of the factors which influenced the capital sentence was a lack of emotion and remorse. Some legal experts opined that Tsarnaev's defense team may have encouraged the convicted death penalty inmate to say things which may help the legal team during the lengthy appeals process.

District Court Judge George O'Toole, Jr. did not seem moved by Boston Bomber's statement.  The judge declared: "Whenever your name is mentioned, what will be remembered is the evil you have done...What will be remembered is that you murdered and maimed.".

Quite.

Martin O'Malley on the Tsarnaev Death Sentence

 

 After the a jury sentenced Dzhohkar Tsarnaev to death for killing three people and maiming 264 exploding two bombs near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon, former Governor Martin O'Malley weighed in.  

While the prospective Democrat Presidential candidate claims to respect the decision of the jury, his rhetoric reverts to a blame America first mode.  

Dead Man Walking Nun Gives Explosive Testimony on Boston Bomber's Private Remorse

Before the defense rested its case during the penalty phase of the surviving Boston Bomber's trial,  Attorney Miriam Conrad called to the stand Sister Helen Prejean, C.J.S. to testify about Dzhohkar Tsarnaev's character. The 76 year old nun gained renown for her book Dead Man Walking (1994), that has been made into a movie (1996) an opera (2000) and a play  written by Tim Robbins (2002).  Dead Man Walking chronicles insights of the mindset of convicted murderers drawn from interacting with two prisoners on death row. The experience lead Sister Prejean to become an ardent anti-capital punishment activist.

Sister Prejean met with Tsarnaev five times since early March 2015. Sister Prejean testified that the 21 year old Tsarnaev brother seemed genuinely sorry for his actions. In fact, Prejean quoted the Boston Bomber: "No one deserves to suffer as they did." Prejean purported that Tsarnaev's "face registered" what he was saying as "absolutely sincere".  CNN reporter Deborah Feyerick claimed this was nothing short of explosive testimony.



It's a pity that Dzhohkar Tsarnaev chose not to take the stand during the guilt phase, in which he was convicted on all 30 counts, nor during the penalty phase, so that the people could discern if it was real remorse or crocodile tears delivered through an earnest activist. Boston Bombing victims in the gallery shook their heads during claims that Tsarnaev was remorseful.

One revealing threat of testimony which was quickly quashed was when Sister Prejean started to speak about comparative religions.  Sister Prejean noted that the Catholic Church had become more and more opposed to the death penalty. The prosecution objected on that point (as they had been chary about an anti Capital Punishment advocate testifying in the first place).  Defense Attorney Conrad interjected "Let me stop you right there".

 Was this a quick acquiescence to an inevitable objection or did the Defense not want to be too explicit in revealing their hand to the jury on Prejean's presence? Defense experts note that if one juror objects to the death penalty, then the Defense achieves its objective and Tsarnaev gets a life sentence without parole.  It is thought that someone of Sister Prejean's stature might be able to influence the jury.

Another ancillary aspect of Sister Prejean's testimony was playing to the look of innocence.  Prejean testified that when she first met Tsarnaev: "I walked in the room, I looked at his face and said, 'Oh my God, he's so young!'" .  This played into the defense argument about youthfulness and impressionability.  It echoes the Tiger Beat style cover of Rolling Stone.  This innocent impression lends more sympathy then the fact that Tsarnaev was convicted of mounting a jihad inspired attack to punish American which killed three people and wounded 264 people.

Although it is understandable that an anti-Capital Punishment advocate like the Sister Prejean would want to testify on behalf of the Boston Bomber, it strains credulity that Tsarnaev's defense would rely on hearsay of remorse rather than have the convicted criminal show his true self up on the stand.

After eight days of testimony which called upon 44 witnesses, the defense rested its case after Sister Prejean's testimony.  The twelve jurors will begin deliberations on Wednesday to determine if Tsarnaev would be in line for a lethal injection or serving a life sentence (presumably at Supermax) without possibility of parole.

The Audacity of Snoop?

After public hue and outcry about the NSA collecting metadata of Americans without warrants, now President Barack Obama will now demand that private communications companies hold the information for six months (at whose expense? ) and the government will then use secret courts to access the information.  But wait, there will be an independent board to rubber stamp the rubber stamps of the FISA court.

What about the $2 billion 100,000 square foot  NSA data center that recently opened near Bluffton,  Utah (a.k.a.  Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center).  

NSA Data Center, Camp Williams, Bluffdale, Utah

Is that now a white elephant or will it continue as a black operation? Let me guess, the facility will supposedly be mothballed and the federal government will funnel communications companies money for the privately held data centers.  

Time will tell if Mr. Obama's long winded remarks on domestic spying pans out to any real reforms. The Obama Administration claims that the NSA program has saved lives, but no specifics were cited.  But we can point to egregious instances which the government dropped the ball (e.g. the Tsarnaev Brothers who conducted the Boston Marathon bombing).  Of course, Attorney General Eric Holder instructed the Department of Justice to expand the definition of "racial profiling" to include religion, even in national security cases.  So GIGO--Garbage In, Garbage Out.

It seems like it is just the Audacity of Snoop.

NSA--Can You Hear Me Now? Not Good.

With the news of the National Security Administration (NSA) procuring metadata records of Verizon customers, there has been some rethinking of the classic cellular commercial.




It seems that we now know who the Verizon guy was checking in with--"The Big Guy" as the Teleprompter of the United States calls POTUS.

What the public can deduce from the NSA/Verizon scandal is that the Boston Bombers, Tamerlin and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were not Verizon Wireless customers.

h/t: Jerry Holbert

Sighting the Ship of Fools--Boston Bomber's Scrawled Confession

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev surrendering in boat after manhunt   [photo: AFP/CBS News]

While Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was held up hiding in a backyard boat in Watertown, MA after the Boston Marathon Bombing, he scrawled a confession.  The U.K.’s Daily Mail reports that the 19 year old thought that he was dying while hiding from the police.  Tsarnaev found a pen where he was hiding from the police and wrote on the interior wall of the boat.

The younger Boston Bomber’s apologia reveals that Dzhokar did not mourn his brother Tamerlan’s death as he was a martyr living in paradise.  Dzhokhar opined that he expected to join his brother soon.  Of course, Dzhokar may have been confused about his final destination.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev claimed that the bombings were retribution for American actions against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The younger Boston Bomber claimed that the three innocent civilians killed and the 175 people maimed by the  Boston Bombings were “collateral damage”, like the thousands of Muslims who were victims of American violence.  Dzhokhar defiantly declared: "When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims.”

 Abdul Ali Alharbi [photo: Okaz]

CBS News reported that investigators were interpreting this note as evidence that the Tsarnaev Brothers  were self-radicalized and that they were not Chechen stooges for a broader jihadist plot.  How convenient.  But what about the hub of strange activity surrounding Abdul Ali Alharbi, the well connected Saudi student hospitalized with burnt hands after the Boston Bombing who was then set to be deported by ICE under section 202 (3)(b) for “Terrorist Activities”?   Out of sight, (out of country), out of mind?


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If the Boston Bombing investigators are seriously pursuing the theory that the Tsarnaevs acted alone and letting other conspirators "slip away", they themselves are lost at sea on a ship of fools.  Unfortunately, such a pleasure cruise could run America’s ship of state aground.

SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com

A Bit of Loony Toon Interviews with Boston Bombers' Kin

Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s Aunt, Maret Tsarnaev, who lives in Ontario, Canada, gave a presser when Boston was on lock-down in pursuit of the fleeing terrorists.  She insists that they are being framed.





Hearing that your kin has killed and crippled scores of innocent people at the Boston Marathon might not compute so it is somewhat understandable the Maret Tsamaev would proclaim her newphews innocence when besieged by the press.   What is not as easily excused is seeking out the media to shill her fantastic viewpoint. 

On Saturday, the Blaze Radio Network’s Buck Sexton Show had an unprompted phone call from Maret Tsarnaev.  



At first, it sounded as is Ms. Tsarnaev was extending an olive branch to those impacted by the atrocity.  But shortly afterwards, she continued to peddle the narrative of “The boys were framed, there is no proof–you do the math.”  While it is possible that this was a crank call, the grief in the woman’s voice along with the consistency of the denial made it less likely that it was a Howard Stern cohort or other crank yankers.

Buck Sexton blazed with stinging impeachment of the Aunt’s proclamation of innocence, which he later seemed to regret, as he assumed that it was family still in denial.  Granted, that is a charitable assessment but it begs the question of why such a person would seek out media and push crackpot conspiracy theories.  It frankly sounds like a foundation is being laid for a “Loose Change” campaign which has persuaded a significant minority of people to believe that 9/11 was an inside job, despite all of the probative facts. 

SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com