31-01-2014, 09:31 AM
Quote:US to pursue death penalty against Boston marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Prosecutors argue that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev acted in 'heinous, cruel and depraved manner' for his alleged role in twin blasts that killed three and injured more than 250
File photo of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, as the mother of alleged Boston bomber has said she will not attend her son's first court appearance in the United States Photo: AP
By Philip Sherwell in New York
1:05AM GMT 31 Jan 2014
US federal prosecutors are to seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the Boston marathon bombing that killed three spectators and injured more than 250.
Eric Holder, the Attorney General, announced the decision after an extensive review by his officials of the case against Tsarnaev and seeking the views of victims' families and survivors.
"The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision," Mr Holder said in a statement released by the Justice Department.
The 20-year-old Chechen-born American is accused of planting two pressure cooker bombs with his older brother Tamerlan, 26, who later died in a shoot-out with the police.
The two Tsarnaevs are also alleged to have killed a college campus police officer while they were on the run three days after committing the bombings.
Tsarnaev, who was badly injured before his capture, has pleaded not guilty to 30 charges, including the four killings and using weapons of mass destruction.
The twin blasts last April were the first lethal Islamic bomb attacks on US soil since the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist atrocities. Fourteen survivors underwent amputations as their injuries were so serious.
After Mr Holder announced his decision, prosecutors filed a formal notice with a federal court in Boston that they were pursuing the death penalty in the case.
They argued that he acted in a "heinous, cruel and depraved manner" with "substantial planning and premeditation" and showed "a lack of remorse" for the victims, including a "vulnerable" eight-year-old, Martin Richard.
Lawyers for Tsarnaev, a college student at the time of the attacks, may argue that he was an impressionable teenage student acting under the influence of his brother, an amateur boxing champion who turned to Islamic extremism.
Massachusetts does not have the death penalty at state level and federal prosecutors there have only sought the death penalty twice in recent decades.
Injured survivors and relatives of the dead were split about whether Tsarnaev should face the death penalty or life in prison, very probably several decades in solitary confinement in a maximum-security jail.
Massachusetts is one of the most liberal states in America and public opinion is strongly against the death penalty in opinion polls.
In the wake of Mr Holder's announcement, Deval Patrick, the governor, said: "One way or another, based on the evidence, Tsarnaev will die in prison. In each milestone of this case today's announcement, the trial and every other significant step in the justice process the people hurt by the marathon bombings and the rest of us so shocked by it will relive that tragedy.
"The best we can do is remind each other that we are stronger ... than ever and that nothing can break that spirit."
Some critics of the death penalty argued that executing Tsarnaev would make him a martyr in the eyes of some. There is already a "Free Jahar" movement, its name taken from his nickname and mainly made up of young women who believe the good-looking young man was a victim of a set-up.
Speaking to CNN in her native Dagestan shortly before Mr Holder's decision was announced, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, the suspect's mother, declined to comment on the specifics of the case.
"The only thing I want to say is, I want the whole world to hear that I love my son, my precious Dzhokhar," said Mrs Tsarnaev, who has consistently insisted that her sons were innocent and were framed.
Even if Tsarnaev is sentenced to die, he could face years or decades on death row while appeals are pursued. The next scheduled court hearing is a status conference with lawyers on Feb 12 but no trial date has been set.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14