Boston Marathon Bombing Trial

[agchristie]

Finally due to get underway but will the accused receive a fair trial?

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/03/boston-marathon-bombing-trial-dzhokhar-tsarnaev

[Peter Pedant]

yeah I think so - [ fair trial ] why not ?

[agchristie]

PP,

Just reading the link in particular:-

///In the defence’s latest motion for a change of venue – its fourth – filed on Tuesday, Tsarnaev’s attorneys observed that 42 of the 75 qualified jurorsself-identified as having a connection with the events or people at issue in the case, and 23 of them stated in their questionnaires that in their opinion Tsarnaev is guilty.///

Should the Trial be outside Boston?

[Peter Pedant]

Jury selection is an art of its own
that doesnt have a british counterpart

They have a ghost jury to fill the original jury should the number drop down below the legal minimum and god know s what else

In Britain trials have been moved but it is not very common
(1973 Cambridge student riots were moved to Norwich I think )


The general feeling here is that juries arent that thick

[ they certainly arent as thick as some judges ]

[Peter Pedant]

After the Guildford non-bombers were finally acquitted after 16 y there followed prosecutions of various police for perjury
and Magistrate Bartells threw the cases out as he said they couldnt get a fair trial after 20 years

caused a few gasps and episodes of breath-holding

Clearly the law has changed since then or else we wouldnt be having all the historical rape gtrials

[anotheoldgit]

A much fairer trial than his innocent victims ever got.

[ummmm]

If they know he's guilty how can it not be a fair trial? It's just down to sentencing now.

[agchristie]

Ummmm,

///If they know he's guilty how can it not be a fair trial? It's just down to sentencing now.///

The facts haven't been examined Ummmm. The jury has only been sworn in.

AOG,

///A much fairer trial than his innocent victims ever got.///

You won't get any dissenters there...

[ummmm]

The facts might not have been examined but they are sure of his guilt.

When they examine the facts he may only get 100 years instead of 300.

[agchristie]

///
When they examine the facts he may only get 100 years instead of 300.///

He could face the death penalty.

[ummmm]

I don't know which states have the death penalty. If Boston is one he probably will. He'll spend many years on death row waiting for his date.

[douglas9401]

Boston is a city in the state of Massachussetts.

[ummmm]

Geography is not my strong point :-)

[ichkeria]

Massachusetts doesn't have the death penalty

[naomi24]

Perhaps he should be tried elsewhere - but personally as long as he gets his just desserts I'm not really bothered what happens to him.

[mikey4444]

I can't see why not.

[agchristie]

Ichkeria,

///Massachusetts doesn't have the death penalty///


He faces 30 charges in the bombings and the fatal shooting days later of a police officer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Seventeen of the charges carry the possibility of the death penalty.

[agchristie]

Naomi,


///Perhaps he should be tried elsewhere - but personally as long as he gets his just desserts I'm not really bothered what happens to him.///

I'm not sure how your reply ended up as BA as I hadn't chose one! Anyway, yes, I thought that this case would have been heard outside Boston. As for just desserts, he faces a lot of charges, his legal team will need to be top notch...

[Jackdaw33]

Massachussets was one of the first, if not the first, states to abolish the death penalty. This depends on whether the prosecution is a state one or a federal one. If the latter then the death penalty is a possibility but any execution would have to be carried out in a state which has the facilities to do so.

[slaney]

"There currently is no state death penalty in Massachusetts, life without the possibilty of parole being the only punishment for first-degree murder. The federal government prosecutes capital cases within Massachusetts, however.

http://www.nodp.org/ma/s1.html

But this is a federal case, and it looks as if the the federal prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/30/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-death-penalty_n_4694745.html

[ichkeria]

Yes sorry I had forgotten the difference between state and federal law