Many Americans still remember the Boston Marathon bombing and this was clearly seen today as spectators gathered in front of the Federal Court for the opening remarks in the trial of the main suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Courthouse security was tighter than ever. Boston police blocked lanes that are typically open, even during significant trials. Blockades maintained people at distance as a bus brought observers, bombing victims or relatives, to enter through a side door.
Marissa Babin of Malden, Mass. was first in a line that started forming from 5a.m. Babin explained why she wants to see the trial:
“This is one of the biggest trials in Boston history, if not the biggest…[The bombings] definitely did affect everyone in Boston and in this area.”
Dogs barked within police SUVs as K-9 units from Boston Police and Homeland Security held up to do their bomb-sniffing rounds. A helicopter surveyed the skies, and police watercrafts were sent to the Boston Harbor.
The court established three additional public viewing areas for attending the statements amounting a total of 420 seats.
Nearly two years after the dreadful event that killed three, harmed more than 260 and shook the whole city, the jury started its hearings on Tuesday .
Tsarnaev, aged 21, is facing 30 charges related to the twin bombings at the marathon April 15, 2013. He is additionally accused of the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology cop days following the bombings.
If the jury finds Tsarnaev guilty, the trial will proceed onward to a second phase to establish his sentence. The sole options for the jury are life in jail or capital punishment.
Tsarnaev’s attorneys attempted four times to have the trial moved out of Boston, contending that the size of the assault was too vast and every potential member of the jury could be familiar with the case personally. It was the biggest terrorist attack in Boston’s history, and its impact spread all throughout the region.
Capital punishment has been prohibited starting 1984 in Massachusetts, however Tsarnaev could be sentenced to death as he’s being trialed in a federal court. A 2013 Boston Globe survey discovered only 33% of Bostonians would want Tsarnaev to get capital punishment if sentenced.
On the off chance that a jury can’t achieve agreement on any tallies in the guilt stage, the outcome is a malfeasance and the case is re-trialed .
Getting a Massachusetts jury to vote for a capital punishment takes a lot but this might be the case for it. As per the 30-count prosecution, Tsarnaev plotted with his brother, Tamerlan, who was killed as they attempted to escape police. Seventeen of the counts convey capital punishment.
Image Source: Boston Globe