[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, OHIO, N.C., ARK., USA

[Rick Halperin]

April 9



TEXAS----impending execution

Ferris man convicted of killing 2 in 2002 denied 180-day reprieve from 
execution ---- Kent Sprouse, convicted of slaying a Ferris police officer and 
another man on Oct. 6, 2002, will be executed on April 9.



Kent Sprouse has been denied a 180-day reprieve from being executed less than 2 
days before his expected death.

Sprouse, convicted of killing a Ferris police officer and another man on Oct. 
6, 2002, was denied the reprieve late Tuesday afternoon. He???s expected to be 
executed near 6 p.m. Thursday in Huntsville, about 55 miles southeast of 
Dallas, by lethal injection. The process is expected to take 15 to 30 minutes 
at most.

The 180-day Reprieve of Execution and Commutation of Death Sentence to Lesser 
Penalty request has to be recommended by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles 
to the govoerner, said Raymond Estrada, spokesperson for the board.

"Pursuant to the Texas Constitution and state law, the board makes 
recommendations to the Governor," Estrada stated via email. "In this case, the 
board did not recommend the Governor grant a 180-day reprieve or commutation of 
sentence."

Sprouse, who was a Ferris resident, was found guilty of killing a Ferris police 
officer Harry Steinfeldt, and Pedro Moreno in 2004 and sentenced to death by 
lethal injection.

In 2002, according to court documents, Sprouse entered a convenience store with 
a shotgun hung over his shoulder, and after returning to his vehicle, fired the 
gun in the direction of 2 men, documents stated.

A nearby customer saw Sprouse working on his vehicle, and Moreno filling his 
truck with gas. Sprouse tried to speak to Moreno, and when Moreno didn't 
respond, Sprouse reached into his vehicle, pulled out a gun and killed Moreno, 
court documents stated.

Steinfeldt responded to the shooting, and as he turned toward Sprouse's 
vehicle, Sprouse shot him twice, according to documents. Steinfeldt returned 
fire, but died from his injuries. A second officer on scene took Sprouse into 
custody, reports stated. Sprouse was then transported to a nearby hospital, 
where a doctor's testing revealed he had consumed amphetamines, 
methamphetamines and cannabis within 48 hours of the double homicide, reports 
stated.

Sprouse has lost several appeals since his sentencing and has declined to 
comment as of press time.

Sprouse will be the 5th execution for the State of Texas this year, and is 
expected to be the 523rd since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. 
He was also expected to receive the last dose of lethal injection drugs during 
a shortage, where the state had 6 executions scheduled during the next 3 months 
and only enough of the drug for on execution. As of March 25, according to an 
article by the Washington Post, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice "had 
obtained another batch of pentobarbital, the drug used in lethal injections 
there since 2012."

The Waxahachie Daily Light will have a reporter in Huntsville for the execution 
Thursday night, so check back for continuing coverage online at 
www.waxahachietx.com as well as an in-depth story in Sunday's edition about 
what it takes to defend the death penalty.

(source: waxahachietx.com)

********************

Court Rules to Allow Convict to Volunteer for Execution



After being convicted of killing a Corpus Christi police officer in 2009, 
27-year old Daniel Lopez said he wanted to be executed. He has maintained that 
position since, and on Monday, an appellate court approved his choice.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has ruled that Lopez can 
volunteer for execution. The court said he is competent to waive any future 
appeals and can move forward with his desire to be executed for the death of 
47-year old Lt. Stuart Alexander.

The process of execution can now continue with no additional appeals, unless 
Lopez authorizes it. A typical death penalty case takes about 8 years for a 
sentence to be carried out. During his trial in 2010, Lopez said he never meant 
to kill Alexander.

(source: KIII TV news)








OHIO:

Prosecutor will pursue death penalty against parents in 2-year-old's death



A Hamilton County grand jury indicted a mother and father on aggravated murder 
charges Wednesday in the starving and beating death of their 2-year-old 
daughter, officials said.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said his office will pursue the death 
penalty for Andrea Bradley and Glenn Bates if a jury finds them guilty of 
aggravated murder, murder and felony child endangerment for the death of their 
daughter, Glenara.

"If they get executed, God bless them, I'd like to see it," Deters said.

Bradley and Bates were charged with felony child endangering on March 29 
shortly after taking their already dead daughter to Children's Hospital.

The charges against the parents were upgraded to murder after Hamilton County 
Coroner Lakshmi Kode Sammarco completed an autopsy on the toddler.

"I've never seen starvation like this before, and I've traveled around the 
world," Sammaraco said of her medical findings.

Glenara weighed 13 pounds when her parents brought her to the hospital. 
Sammaraco said the toddler's small intestines were empty when she performed her 
medical exam.

"We are not sure the last time she had been fed or given anything to drink," 
she said.

Sammaraco said it would likely have been days since the child's last meal.

The autopsy also confirmed multiple laceration and cuts on the child that 
doctors reported to Cincinnati police when Glenara was brought to the hospital.

Bradley apparently tried to stitch a wound on Glenara before taking her to the 
hospital, the doctors said.

Deters said the child also lived in physically deplorable conditions.

"This baby ate and slept in a bathtub filled with feces and blood," Deters 
said. "You wouldn't treat your dog like this."

Bradley and Bates remain in the Hamilton County Justice Center.

(source: WCPO news)

*********************

Prosecutors often decide not to seek death for child-killers



James Livesay was like many 2-year-olds - singing the theme song of "SpongeBob 
SquarePants" as he ran, jumped, played and bounced off of things, sporting the 
scrapes and bruises to prove it.

But when James' body, accompanied by his blue fleece blanket, was sent to the 
Hamilton County Coroner's Office following his March 2012 death, dozens of 
scrapes and bruises were found on the 35-pound boy - his genitalia, buttocks, 
arms, legs, head, chest and back.

"It is unusual even with an active kid to have that many cuts and abrasions and 
bruises," Assistant Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier said.

It was a punch to the stomach that took just minutes to kill him. In addition 
to the already healing fractures of Livesay's left arm and 3 ribs, he also had 
a deep tear on his liver and a severed blood vessel near the heart.

"The injuries to the child are absolutely horrific," Hamilton County Common 
Pleas Court Judge Norbert Nadel said last month as he sent James' killer, 
Anthony Pierson, to prison for 20 years to life.

Cases like Livesay's frustrated Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, since he 
considered the allowable punishments for such offenders too light. He lobbied 
Ohio lawmakers to strengthen penalties. He wanted to change the law to make the 
sentences against those who kill children younger than 13 eligible for the 
death penalty.

"I had to go through 2 speakers of the (Ohio) House to get it through, but I 
got it through," Deters said.

In the last few years, though, Deters and his prosecutors haven't been 
successful convincing juries that death is the appropriate punishment. In the 
last 6 cases the office has used that law, it's sought a death sentence only 
once, admitting they've changed tactics, giving up seeking death in many of the 
cases.

"I don't see how anybody can do anything like that," the judge said of James 
Livesay's fatal injuries.

The prosecutors do.

Since 2005, near the start of Deters' 2nd stint as prosecutor, Hamilton County 
has used the new law - Ohio Revised Code 2903.01C - in 19 killings of children. 
Of those, they sought the death penalty in 13, and a death sentence was handed 
down 3 times, 2 of them against Mark Pickens, who shot and killed 2 children 
and a teen mother.

But because of the prosecutor's poor record of winning death sentences in 
child-killing cases - especially where death is caused by a single blow - their 
strategy has changed. No longer will they seek the death penalty in 
child-killers' cases except "on someone who puts a bullet through babies' 
heads," Piepmeier said.

"We're not going to seek it on cases it seems to be futile to go after," 
Piepmeier said.

The law requires prosecutors to convince jurors the killers intended to kill 
their victims. That's tough to do when the death is caused by a single punch or 
stomp instead of, say, a strangulation that can take several minutes, or a 
shooting that shows intent.

"The challenge in these cases is always intent. And intent ... is a very 
subjective thing," Deters said. "We have found over time that cases where a 
defendant loses his temper and it's a one-punch case, as it's referred to, 
jurors don't want to give the death penalty on it."

At the same time, defense attorneys, Deters said, have learned to point out to 
juries that prosecutors can't prove 1 punch proves intent to kill.

Piepmeier, who prosecuted the majority of the cases for which child killers 
could be eligible for a death sentence, noted the irony of a defense used often 
- that a pattern of abuse shows the opposite of an intent to kill. "It leads to 
the defense that, 'I beat the hell out of the kid, and he never died before,'" 
Piepmeier said. "That works against us."

Proof isn't an issue. Of the 14 cases resolved in Hamilton County under the law 
since 2005, 12 have resulted in convictions. 5 are pending. The other 2 ended 
when the accused was found not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered to stay 
indefinitely in a mental institution.

Prosecutors, Deters said, seek death sentences in these cases under 2 
circumstances. "There have to be no proof problems," Deters said, "and it fits 
the (law). We don't plea bargain."

In the Pierson case, though, prosecutors sought the death penalty against 
James' killer until 2 weeks before Pierson's trial was to start.

They dropped the allegations that would have made Pierson eligible for the 
death penalty - only the 2nd time Deters has agreed to do so - if he pleaded 
guilty. Prosecutors offered that deal because they initially believed James was 
killed by a series of punches. In January, as Pierson was pleading guilty to 
the killing, they said they believed James was killed with 1 punch, putting 
them in a legal position in which history has proved they rarely can win a 
death sentence.

"We've learned from it," Piepmeier said.

That also reflects on the severity of the sentence: The punishment a conviction 
brings ranges from 20 years to life in prison to life in prison without the 
possibility of parole.

Pierson was sent to prison for 20 years to life.

KILLING KIDS

Hamilton County prosecutors were instrumental in getting an Ohio law passed 
that made killers of children younger than 13 eligible for the death penalty. 
Since 2005, when Joe Deters became prosecutor for the 2nd time, Hamilton County 
has used the law 19 times, seeking the death penalty in 13 of those cases. 3 
death sentences were given, two to Mark Pickens, who killed 2 children.

2005

Matthew Carovillano, 28, of North College Hill. Beat to death 18-month-old 
Kaylee Schnurr, daughter of his girlfriend, Marigrace Schnurr, at his home 
while Marigrace watched television downstairs. Sentence: Life in prison without 
possibility of parole.

Darius Myrick, 40, of Westwood. Accused of beating to death his daughter, 
19-month-old Alyiah S. Myrick, at a Corryville park. He was found not guilty by 
reason of insanity. Result: Indefinite stay at mental institution.

Charles Finley, 27, of Silverton. Beat to death Christopher Beck, his 
girlfriend's 1-year-old son, in a fit of jealous rage after finding love 
letters and pictures of Christopher's mother with other men. The child had a 
fractured skull and a bite on his buttocks. Sentence: 15 years to life in 
prison.

2006

Fred Johnson, 42, of the West End. Stomped 7-year-old Milton Baker to death. 
Johnson, who was home-schooling Milton, became enraged when the child couldn't 
correctly pronounce a word in a book. The child died the next day. Sentence: 23 
years to life in prison.

Lamont Hunter, 45, of Carthage. Raped and beat or shook to death 3-year-old 
Trustin Blue, son of his girlfriend. Trustin suffered a broken leg, mutilated 
penis, mutilated ear canal, other injuries. The child had been taken from his 
mother by officials earlier in the year when evidence of abuse was found, but 
later returned to her. Sentence: Death.

2007

Derris Smith, 24. Smith was age 17 in 2007 when he was trying to toilet train 
Malakai Glenn, 18-month-old son of his girlfriend. He repeatedly slammed the 
toddler into the wall of the Fay Apartments home he shared with his mother. 
Sentence: 31 years to life in prison.

2008

NONE

2009

Mark Pickens, 24. Upset that Noelle Washington reported to police that Pickens 
raped her, Pickens sneaked into her Pendleton home and shot her in the back of 
the head as she held her 9-month-old son, Anthony Jones III. He then shot 
3-year-old Sha'Railyn Wright, who knew him by name and could identify him. 
Sha'Railyn raised her hand to try to block the bullet, but it went through her 
hand and hit her in the head. Then he shot the infant in the head. Between each 
shooting, his gun jammed, so he stopped to re-cock between killings. Sentence: 
On death row under 3 death sentences, 1 for each of his victims.

James Lyons, 31, of North Avondale. Beat or stomped his 19-month-old son, Jaden 
Jenkins, to death after the child wouldn't drink his orange juice. Jaden had 
almost 50 fractures with at least 11 fractured ribs and 2 skull fractures. 
Sentence: Life in prison without possibility of parole.

2010

Loinell "Life" Dangerfield, 29, of College Hill. Beat to death 3-month-old Zhi 
Merah Binford, daughter of Dangerfield's girlfriend, in her South Fairmount 
home. Dangerfield slammed her on a hard surface 6 times. Convicted of murder 
but escaped a possible death sentence. Sentence: 15 years to life in prison.

Christopher Dangerfield, 51, of Walnut Hills. Punched to death Tyrese Short, 
his 3 1/2-year-old son, after he was given custody by the Hamilton County 
Department of Job & Family Services. The boy had been badly burned, had 
recently broken a leg and had told a babysitter his dad punched him in the 
stomach. Escaped a potential death sentence by pleading guilty. He is the 
father of Loinell Dangerfield. Sentence: 15 years to life in prison.

Thomas Huge, 48, of Springfield Township. Convicted of murder for the 
strangling death of his 15-month-old daughter, Kayli Bates, at their home. 
Convicted of murder but escaped a possible death sentence.

Sentence: 23 years to life in prison.

2011

Antrone Smith, 31, of Westwood. Beat to death Damarcus Jackson, the 2-year-old 
son of Smith's girlfriend, Latricia Jackson, in the Walnut Hills home they 
shared. She testified against Smith. The mother was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in 
prison for child endangering. Damarcus was killed just months after he was 
taken from foster care and placed back with Smith and Jackson. Prosecutors said 
Smith killed Damarcus because he suspected he wasn't the child's father. DNA 
tests proved he was. Sentence: 15 years to life in prison.

2012

Lanny Stoinoff, 27, of North College Hill. Accused of slamming his 4-week-old 
niece, Roslyn Noelle Stoinoff, to the floor of his parents' Colerain Township 
home, killing her. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Result: 
Indefinite stay at a mental health facility.

Daniel Hamberg, 30, of Colerain Township. Accused of killing Cohen Barber, 
1-year-old son of Hamberg's girlfriend. Hamberg told police the child jumped 
down 5 stairs and hit his head. Result: Next in court Feb. 26. Trial set for 
May 19.

Brian Everett, 36, of East Price Hill. Accused of the stabbing deaths of 
12-year-old Stephanie Smith and her mom, Nicole Smith, 39. Prosecutors are not 
seeking the death penalty against Everett, who claims self-defense in the 
killings. Result: Trial set for April 2.

Anthony Pierson, 34, of Sycamore Township. Beat to death 2-year-old James 
Livesay, son of Pierson's girlfriend, Pamela Burton. Hamilton County's 
Department of Job & Family Services told Burton not to let Pierson back in her 
Sycamore Township home. Then it closed the case. Pierson returned. Within 2 
months, James was dead. Sentence: 20 years to life in prison.

2013

Daniel McClure, 22, of Downtown. Accused of the death of Tyrelle Key, 
2-month-old child of McClure's girlfriend. The child died due to head trauma. 
Result: Next in court March 19.

Janishcia Cottingham, 24, of North Fairmount. Accused of smothering her 
15-month-old daughter, Robin, to death. Initially declared mentally incompetent 
to stand trial, she was hospitalized. Her mental health was restored such that 
she was ordered to stand trial for murder. Result: Next in court Feb. 27. She 
has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

(source: cincinnati.com)








NORTH CAROLINA:

Prosecutors seek death penalty for remaining suspect in killing of Granville 
couple



Prosecutors are set to explain to a judge Wednesday why they should be able to 
pursue the death penalty against 22-year-old Eric Campbell in the murders of a 
well-known Granville County couple.

Campbell had been charged along with his 54-year-old father Edward in the 
slayings before the older man committed suicide in prison March 10.

Prosecutors say the father and son burst into the home of Jerome Faulkner, 73, 
and his wife Dora, 62, near Oak Hill, NC - northwest of Oxford - on New Year's 
Day.

The Campbells allegedly murdered the couple and set their house on fire. They 
then loaded the bodies into the couple's pickup truck and drove it and an SUV 
into West Virginia.

That's where police officers stopped the SUV because it had a stolen license 
plate. The Campbells got into a shootout with officers - wounding 2. Both men 
were eventually captured and investigators found the bodies of the Faulkners 
under a mattress in the back of their pickup truck.

In court Wednesday, prosecutors at a "Rule 24" hearing are expected to tell a 
judge that aggravating factors required under North Carolina law to pursue the 
death penalty for Eric Campbell exist.

(source: ABC news)








ARKANSAS:

Arkansas execution law case assigned to judge who presided over last death 
penalty ruling



A lawsuit challenging the legality of execution legislation signed by Arkansas' 
governor has been assigned to a judge who ruled against an older death penalty 
law.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (http://bit.ly/1CwI9jA ) reports 7 death-row 
inmates filed the lawsuit Monday to have the new law invalidated because they 
say it violates their contract with the state requiring prison officials to 
disclose the origin of the drugs that will be used to put them to death. 
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen ruled in favor of the same inmates 
in a 2013 suit, saying an older law gave the state Correction Department too 
much authority to determine what drugs will be used for execution and who will 
administer them.

Griffen's 2014 decision was reversed last month. The prisoners and state 
lawyers signed the contract stating the initial lawsuit would be dropped if 
information about the drugs was disclosed.

(source: Associated Press)








USA:

Supreme Court gives new life to death penalty debate



The state that plans to kill Kent Sprouse on Thursday recently received a new 
supply of pentobarbital, the drug of choice for executioners in a country fast 
running out of humane ways to perform lethal injections.

That should give Texas enough of the barbiturate to execute 4 death row inmates 
at its Huntsville state penitentiary this month and maintain its status as the 
nation's leader in lethal injections - more than 500 since it became the 1st to 
use that method in 1982.

But other states - and some of the prisoners they have executed of late - can't 
find pharmacies willing to supply drugs that can kill reliably, without the 
gasps and groans the Supreme Court has indicated may violate the Constitution's 
protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

In 3 weeks, the justices will consider a challenge from 3 death row inmates to 
Oklahoma's lethal injection method, one that's used by several other states. A 
ruling against the use of midazolam, a sedative that lacks the knockout punch 
of pentobarbital, as part of a 3-drug cocktail would further crimp the 
country's ability to execute prisoners.

Justices block 3 Oklahoma executions over drug used

Even if the court does not rule against Oklahoma, a number of other 
developments are pointing toward the diminution of the death penalty in 
America:

-- 6 states - New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, Illinois, Connecticut and 
Maryland - have abolished capital punishment since 2004.

-- Several other states have imposed moratoriums on lethal injections because 
of problems, ranging from botched executions in Oklahoma and Ohio to a "cloudy" 
drug concoction in Georgia.

-- The Supreme Court has ruled that juveniles and people with intellectual 
disabilities cannot be executed, while judges, juries and prosecutors have 
turned increasingly to life sentences without the possibility of parole.

-- Just last month, both the American Pharmacists Association and the 
International Academy of Compounding Pharmacies discouraged their members from 
participating in the process. The U.S. group called it "fundamentally contrary 
to the role of pharmacists as providers of health care."

-- The difficulties involved in lethal injections are forcing states with 
capital punishment laws to rejuvenate backup methods once viewed as beyond the 
pale. Tennessee would allow electrocution, Utah death by firing squad. Now 
Oklahoma lawmakers are moving toward legalizing the use of nitrogen gas.

"The lethal injection issues are coming at a critical juncture," says Robert 
Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. Capital 
punishment is declining, he notes, "judicially, legislatively and as a matter 
of practice - all at the same time."

'OUR BUSINESS IS IN HEALING'

There is good reason to believe the Supreme Court won't help that trend April 
29 when it considers Glossip v. Gross - a case called Warner v. Gross until the 
justices refused to stop Charles Warner's lethal injection in January.

Despite its rulings abolishing the death penalty for people with intellectual 
disabilities in 2002 and for juveniles younger than 18 in 2005, the 
conservative-leaning court has shown little inclination to move much further. 
Only four votes were needed to accept the Oklahoma case. Only the use of 
midazolam as part of a 3-drug protocol is in jeopardy.

That's not the same 3-drug protocol the court upheld in Baze v. Rees, the 2008 
Kentucky case that upheld the method of lethal injection used in most states at 
the time. Midazolam was implicated in 3 botched executions last year in Ohio, 
Oklahoma and Arizona, where prisoners gasped, groaned and snorted before 
succumbing.

Although Florida and Oklahoma used that protocol successfully in January, Texas 
and Missouri have had fewer problems with pentobarbital. The problem is in 
getting a reliable supply of any lethal injection drugs following the European 
Union's export ban in 2011.

States that have turned to compounding pharmacies for their drugs are running 
into increased resistance - for good reason, says David Miller, executive vice 
president of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists.

"As a pharmacist, I was trained to take care of people," Miller says. "This is 
not our business. Our business is in healing."

The court will hear the challenge from Richard Glossip, John Grant and Benjamin 
Cole, whose executions had been scheduled for January, February and March. 
Glossip was convicted of paying another man to kill the owner of the Oklahoma 
City budget motel where he worked as manager. He has long declared his 
innocence.

The battle lines in Oklahoma are clear. The state, which not only agreed to 
postpone those executions but asked the court to do so, hopes for a clear 
victory.

"The families of the victims in these 3 cases have waited a combined 48 years 
for the sentences of these heinous crimes to be carried out," Attorney General 
Scott Pruitt has said.

The best that death penalty opponents likely can hope for is a narrow decision 
restricting the use of midazolam.

"I do not think the court is going to open the Pandora's box to broader 
discussions about the nature of lethal injection as a broad topic or the death 
penalty in general," says Rick Halperin, director of the Human Rights Education 
Program at Texas' Southern Methodist University.

NO LONGER 'BUSINESS AS USUAL'

While Oklahoma waits to execute more prisoners - along with states such as 
Ohio, where Gov. John Kasich has postponed all executions because of a drug 
shortage - Texas executions continue apace.

Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, Texas has executed more 
criminals than the next 6 states combined - Oklahoma, Virginia, Florida, 
Missouri, Georgia and Alabama. 4 executions have been performed already this 
year; 4 more are set for this month.

Even by Lone Star State standards, Sprouse's crime was horrendous. He was 
convicted in 2004 of shooting to death a police officer and an innocent 
bystander at a gas station 2 years earlier. His conviction was upheld by a 
federal appeals court in 2007.

In recent years, however, Texas has shown a decline in the number of death 
sentences imposed, death row inmates housed and prisoners executed. A 
confluence of factors has contributed, ranging from the risk of executing 
innocent people to the cost of capital punishment proceedings and the 
availability of life imprisonment without parole.

"There are undeniable signs across the spectrum that America is having doubts 
about the death penalty, for a whole gamut of reasons," says Maurie Levin, a 
Texas lawyer who regularly represents capital defendants and has 2 lawsuits 
pending against the state. "Even though Texas has managed to continue to carry 
out executions, it's a mistake to think it's business as usual."

Thus far, the drug shortage hasn't brought Texas executions to the standstill 
that has hit other states. It announced in March that it had obtained enough to 
get through this month's executions. But supplies are drying up everywhere.

"Since 2011, it has become increasingly difficult to purchase drugs used in the 
lethal injection process," says Jason Clark, spokesman for the state Department 
of Criminal Justice. "The agency is exploring all options, including the 
continued use of pentobarbital or other drugs."

The drug shortage doesn't win much sympathy from the people who stand vigil 
outside Huntsville's "Walls Unit" during each evening execution. They will be 
there again Thursday night, barring a last-minute postponement - most likely 
opposite a group of death penalty proponents supporting the execution of a 
convicted cop-killer.

"I wish that I thought we were at a turning point," says Cheryl Smith, minister 
of Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Huntsville, who attends every 
vigil she can. "I don't know that it will ever come in Texas, unless it comes 
from the Supreme Court. There is a point of pride here in Texas about being 
tough on crime."

(source: USA Today)

*****************

Dzokhar Tsarnaev guilty of Boston Marathon bombing



Dzokhkar Tsarnaev was found guilty Wednesday of charges in the 2013 Boston 
Marathon bombing that would make him subject to a possible death sentence.

In the 1st count, he was found guilty of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass 
destruction. The jury, in rapid succession, returned a guilty verdict on the 
first 16 of 30 counts in the case.

Tsarnaev stood emotionless with his hands folded, looking down at the defense 
table, as Federal Judge George O'Toole read the lengthy verdict..

Sentencing for the 21-year-old Tsarnaev will be held at a later date and could 
last as long as 2 weeks. The 7-woman, 5-man federal jury returned its verdict 
after 2 days of deliberations.

He had faced 30 counts in the case, including 17 counts punishable with the 
death penalty.

The bombing on April 15, 2013 left 3 people dead and 260 injured. A 4th person, 
a security officer, was killed 3 days later during an intense manhunt that 
brought the shocked city to a standstill.

The outcome of some kind of guilty verdict was in little doubt after the 
defense acknowledged that Tsarrnaev had placed a pressure-cooker explosive 
device in the crowd near the finish line on Boston's Boylston Street of the 
annual race.

The defense had argued that while Dzohkhar was involved, he was manipulated by 
his older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed during a police shootout as the 
manhunt unfolded.

None of the 4 defense witnesses suggested that Tsarnaev was innocent.

"We are not asking you to go easy on Dzhokhar," defense attorney Judy Clarke 
said in her closing argument. His actions "deserve to be condemned. And the 
time is now."

Closing arguments were wrapped up Monday in the guilt-or-innocence phase of the 
trial with prosecutors ratcheting up their case that Tsarnaev, 2

Prosecutors described Tsarnaev as a true believer in the cause of radical, 
violent jihad to avenge what he saw as harm by the United States against 
Muslims.

"The plan was to make this bombing as memorable as it could possibly be," 
Assistant U.S. Attorney William Weinreb said.

Prosecutors pulled no punches, calling 92 witnesses over 15 days, including 
double amputees and the father of an 8-year-old boy who was killed. They 
presented a trove of more than 4,000 hours of surveillance footage that left 
little doubt about the Tsarnaevs' culpability, not only in the marathon 
bombings but also in the murder of Collier.

If that weren't enough, they hammered home his motive: retribution on Allah's 
behalf for the harm he said America had done to Muslims.

They quoted words Tsarnaev had written inside a backyard boat where he hid 
during the manhunt: "stop killing our innocent people and we will stop" was 
among the statements. These were not the work of his brother, Tamerlan, whom 
the defense has blamed for conceiving the terrorist plot. Tamerlan died after 
Tsarnaev ran him over in a shootout.

"He still wrote that manifesto in the boat when the brother was no longer 
around," Coyne said. That body of evidence, he said, was likely "very 
damaging."

Judge O'Toole met earlier with attorneys for both sides for about 30 minutes to 
address the questions raised by the 7-woman, 5-man jury, which deliberated for 
more than 7 hours Tuesday before ending the day without a verdict.

The charges against Tsarnaev - totaling 30 counts - fall into 4 main 
categories. 12 pertain to 2 pressure-cooker bombs used at the marathon.Three 
other charges dealt with conspiracy; another 3 covered the fatal shooting on 
April 18, 2013, of MIT security officer Sean Collier.

The final 12 addressed what happened after Collier's murder, including a 
carjacking, robbery and use of improvised explosives against Watertown, Mass., 
police officers.

Here are the facts in the case against Boston Marathon Bombing suspect Dzhokhar 
Tsarnaev.

O'Toole began Wednesday's proceedings by reading the jurors' questions, one of 
which had 2 parts, and delivering his answers.

"Can a conspiracy pertain to a sequence of events over multiple days or a 
distinct event?" was the 1st question.

"Duration is a question of fact for you to determine," O'Toole told the jury. 
It could be limited to 1 event or apply to more than 1. Tsarnaev is charged 
with conspiracy in 3 counts, all of which name 4 victims who were killed during 
the week of April 15, 2013.

Jurors also asked whether they need to consider all the subclauses in each 
count, or if reaching unanimity on the overall question of guilt for that count 
is sufficient.

O'Toole said they must consider every subclause only if they determine Tsarnaev 
is guilty on that charge.

The jury's last question sought clarification on the difference between aiding 
and abetting. 25 of the 30 counts charge Tsarnaev with aiding and abetting, 
sometimes in conjunction with a broader charge.

"Aiding and abetting is a single concept," O'Toole told the jury. "Aiding and 
abetting means to intentionally help another person commit a criminal offense."

Even when a defendant isn't fighting the charges, jurors still need time to 
work through each question, says Michael Coyne, dean of the Massachusetts 
School of Law.

(source: USA Today)