I blew up. But let him live

The protection of the alleged organizer of the Boston explosion Johar Tsarnaev insists that he does not deserve the death penalty

On Tuesday in Boston, at the trial of Johar Tsarnaev, accused of organizing explosions at the finish line of the Boston marathon, a survey of defense witnesses ended the first stage of the trial. In his course, the prosecution tried to prove Tsarnaev’s guilt of a perfect crime. The jury will begin to discuss the verdict on Monday, April 6.

Fifteen days and 92 witnesses were required to state a version of what happened on April 15, 2013 at the finish line of the Boston marathon, and the events preceding the explosions. The purpose of the prosecutors was to prove that 19-year-old Johar Tsarnaev was a completely conscious, active and equal partner of the older brother, 26-year-old Tamerlane Tsarnaev. The elder Tsarnaev was killed during an attempt to detain, but, according to the accusation, the defendant brings the share of responsibility for the death of three people and injuries, including heavy, inflicted on more than 260 people as a result of terrorist attacks.

The defense was enough only five hours in order to try to convince the jury with the help of four experts that their client was led, that the overwhelming share of responsibility for explosions lies with Tamerlana Tsarnaev, which was both the inspirer and even the manufacturer of explosive devices. The process began with a rather unexpected statement by the defense of Johar Tsarnaev, which actually predetermined the answer to the main question posed before the jury: is Tsarnaev guilty of a terrorist act? In the opening word, Tsarnaev’s lawyer admitted that his client actually blew up one of the devices during the Boston Marathon.

Jurisdictions explain such a tactics of protection by the presence of a huge amount of various evidence - from video and photographs to the testimony of witnesses and material evidence, linking the Tsarnaevs with this crime. The only real goal that the defense could put on was to try to protect her ward from the death penalty, which the federal prosecutor’s office decided to achieve. The punishment of seventeen out of thirty charges against Johar Tsarnaev may be the death penalty. Among the accusations, for example, a conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, which entailed the death of people, a conspiracy to organize explosions in a public place, a crime with the use of firearms.

On Monday, the prosecutor's office completed its fifteen-day representation of the accusations with a murmur with a murder of one of the victims of these attacks-8-year-old Martine Richard. There was not a single living place left on his body, it was covered with wounds from nails and fragments of the explosive device, which was in a backpack left by Johar Tsarnaev next to Bill and Denis Richard and their three children who observed the course of the marathon. The jury was shown by photographs taken during an autopsy of the boy. He had a bone broken, part of the intestines fell out of the underblying.

The defense responded with the testimony of four experts, concentrating on, in her opinion, failures in evidence of the prosecution. The prosecutor’s office, for example, insists that during the preparation of attacks, Johar Tsaranaev went out of his computer to sites with information about the manufacture of explosive devices, to sites with extremist information. But, as the defense witnesses stated, the search for data on "detonators, transmitters, receivers" used in such devices was made from the Tamerlana Tsarnaeva computer. Moreover, on fragments of the shells of pots, which were used to make homemade bombs, only fingerprints of the eldest Tsarnaev were discovered.

Is this enough to take the threat of the death penalty from Johar Tsarnaev, experts do not undertake to predict. According to Ilya Somin, a professor of lawyer's jurisprudence named after George Mason, the first part of the process did not bring surprises:

It remains that among the jury there are people who fundamentally do not accept the death penalty

- During the court, the defense made a predictable bet to create an image of the client as a victim of an older brother who not only bears the main responsibility for the crime, but should also answer for the involvement of Johar Tsarnaev in the organization of this attack. I have the feeling that the task of protection is extremely complicated. This crime is too large, too many became his victims. Tsarnaev, in my opinion, will most likely be sentenced to death. Although there is a slight probability that among the jury is, say, people who fundamentally do not accept the death penalty. This can save Tsarnaev, this is also possible.

Most of Boston residents are opposed to the death penalty of Tsarnaev, and during many months of preparation for the process, the number of such people has increased. In September 2013, five months after the attack, 57 percent of the respondents spoke for a lifelong conclusion for Tsarnaev, 33 percent - for the death penalty. A week ago, 62 percent of the Bostonians were ready to save his life and about a quarter believed that he deserves the death penalty. In the state of Massachusetts, the death penalty is prohibited. It is considered in the case of Tsarnaev because it was instituted by the federal authorities in the federal court, the death penalty is provided as a punishment by federal laws.

The next stage of the process will begin on April 6, when the jury will begin to discuss the verdict in the case of Johar Tsarnaev. If his guilt is found on points providing for the death penalty, hearing will be held on the measure of punishment. There are only two options - lifelong conclusion or death penalty. During these hearings, as experts say, the defense will have the opportunity to present as many witnesses as possible, which will help, if not to justify the actions of Tsarnaev, then at least present his image in a more favorable light.