On January 5, 2015 jury selection began for the Boston Marathon Bombing Trial. There are currently 1,200 individuals in the jury pool. In order to be chosen, these individuals will have to be willing to impose the death penalty if Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to charges in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing which killed three and wounded more than 260. The problem with this is the difficulty they are having in finding people who have not yet formed an opinion on Tsarnaev’s guilt. The judge and attorneys heard from about a half a dozen people as the second phase of jury selection began, and several said that they could never impose the death penalty. Several also stated that the lengthy trial could cause financial hardships considering that the trial is expected to last three to four months. One man pressed by Judge George O’Toole Jr. on whether or not he would be able to change his opinion on how Tsarnaev deserves the death sentence stated,”I can’t imagine any evidence that would change how I feel about what happened”. Another potential juror , a Catholic theologian, said that he can not impose the death penalty under any circumstances. “There is no way in modern America today...that I am going to vote for the death penalty. I will not,” he said. The judge question 20 jurors Thursday, but it is not yet clear who will be excused. A defense attorney complained that Judge O’Toole was not asking them specifically if they would be able to vote for life in prison if Tsarnaev was found guilty. “It doesn’t matter whether the juror might vote for life in an unintentional killing because that’s not what we’re dealing with,” Bruck said. “We really don’t think we’re going to have a fair jury unless they’re asked”.
I understand the difficulty with the selection of the jury considering that many of them have initial opinions on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and what they believe his fate should be. However, in my opinion, in no way should Tsarnaev get away with killing innocent people, including 8 year old Martin Richard, and wounding over 260. Whether that means death sentence or not, he will serve for his immoral acts and justice will be served.
