US urges court to reimpose Boston bomber’s death sentence
FILE - This file photo released April 19, 2013, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for carrying out the April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombing attack that killed three people and injured more than 260. [FBI via AP, File]
President Joe Biden’s administration is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate the death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev despite the president’s vocal opposition to capital punishment.
Justice Department lawyers wrote in court documents filed Monday that the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was wrong when it threw out the 27-year-old’s death sentence last year over concerns about the jury selection process.
The Supreme Court agreed in March to hear the case after former President Donald Trump’s administration appealed the July 2020 ruling to the high court.
The initial prosecution and decision to seek a death sentence was made by the Obama administration, in which Biden served as vice president.