The bell has rung. On one side stands the prosecution of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s case and on the other side the defense. Both of them wrapped up their arguments on Monday. Death penalty opponent Sister Helen Prejean threw the final punch in a last attempt to save Dzhokhar from execution after testifying that Tsarnaev expressed genuine sorrow for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. It is a fact well known that Sister Helen firmly believes that people should be considered more than the worst act of their entire lives.
Both the sides will resume giving their closing arguments on Wednesday and now the 12 people of the federal jury will decide whether the 21 year old Boston Marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, should get a death sentence or life in prison.
Victims of the 2013 bombing were called by prosecutors, who gave painful testimony about witnessing loved ones die or helplessly watching their limbs blown off.
On the other hand more than 40 witnesses were called by the defense team during the penalty phase in hope of convincing the jury that Tsarnaev was a “good kid” who was horribly misguided by his 26 year old radical older brother, Tamerlan. Tsarnaev did take part in the bombing in 2013, but Tamerlan, who died in a get-away attempt days after the bombing was the actual mastermind behind the operation.
Dzhokhar’s teachers recalled a sweet, hardworking boy, while his Russian family members wept as they described a kind and gentle child who cried during ‘The Lion King’. A psychiatrist said Tsarnaev’s father struggled with severe post-traumatic stress disorder while others described a mother who became obsessed with religion.
Last month, Tsarnaev was convicted of all 30 charges against him including 17 that carry the possibility of the death penalty. He was found guilty of being involved in the 2013 attack which left three people dead and more than 260 wounded, including 17 who lost limbs. However, according to the prosecutors he is an equal partner in crime who deliberately put a bomb behind a family, killing an eight-year-old boy, Martin Richard, and causing his sister, Jane, to lose a leg.
Personally it does not matter to me whether he is sorry or not. It even doesn’t matter whether or not the murderer deserves to live or die. There real question here is not what someone deserves but rather what we have the moral authority to do, and what doing those things does to us.
