Trump says federal government should again seek death penalty for Boston bomber Tsarnaev

[August 03, 2020]    By Pete Schroeder
 
 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said Sunday that the federal government should again seek the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with family members of slain Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen, who was was found dead after disappearing from the army base in Texas, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 30, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

In a tweet, Trump said the federal government must challenge a Friday appeals court decision overturning the death penalty for the 2013 attack.

"Rarely has anybody deserved the death penalty more than the Boston Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev," tweeted Trump. "The Federal Government must again seek the Death Penalty in a do-over of that chapter of the original trial."

A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld much of Tsarnaev's conviction Friday but ordered a new trial over what sentence Tsarnaev should receive for the death penalty-eligible crimes he was convicted of.

The federal governemnt is reviewing the ruling. Prosecutors could ask the full appeals court to reconsider or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, set off a pair of homemade pressure-cooker bombs near the finish line of the world-renowned race in 2013, tearing through the packed crowd, killing three people and wounding more than 260 others.

Tsarnaev admitted to his crimes after his conviction in 2015, and apologized to the victims.

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder; editing by Diane Craft)

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