Boston bomber gets the death penalty. Your thoughts?

There are no complete stories out there yet, but we have the headline:

What do y’all think?

22 thoughts on “Boston bomber gets the death penalty. Your thoughts?

  1. Brad Warthen Post author

    My own thoughts are…

    I don’t believe in the death penalty. But if I did, those who commit crimes such as this one would be near the top of my “top ’em” list.

    As for this particular case and how it was conducted… I think the defense picked the strategy most likely to get Tsarnaev a life sentence — painting him as his big brother’s patsy. It just wasn’t enough, in a state with the death penalty.

    1. Kathryn Fenner

      Yeah, I agree completely. I am opposed to the death penalty, but we knew exactly who did it, and it was executed with cold precision–not a crime of passion or hallucination. Depraved indifference (which does sound like pychopathology, fwiw.)

  2. David

    I agree with Brad and Kathryn. I disagree with the application of the death penalty but it is hard to think of anyone more deserving than Tsarnaev.

    1. Juan Caruso

      Should not we respect this Chechen chump’s own ideology? Americans will see if Allah IS WILLING for him to receive our death penalty.

      Meanwhile, ISIS will demand Tsarnaev’s release in exchange for future U.S. hostage(s) before the chump’s death can be rendered.

      Unnecessary drama, appeals, lawyer fees, and helpful press for ISIS recruiters is in store during this delay. A pendulum swings while the wishy washy dither.

  3. Bryan Caskey

    I’ll go ahead and set the over/under on the length of the appellate process at 8 years.

    1. Bob Amundson

      McVeigh was executed about 4 years after sentencing. I am not always opposed to the death penalty, but in this case, isolation in SuperMax Colorado seems more appropriate. Now belief in martyrdom may give this evil person some “strength.”

      1. Bryan Caskey

        Old Joke:

        So the jihadist guy matyrs himself for the glorious cause of Allah, and upon his death he wakes up in an empty room with one door. He thinks to himself that this must be paradise and he awaits the 72 young women who he remembers were promised to him.

        All of a sudden, George Washington and a whole bunch of other white men come in through the door, see him, and start beating the crap out him.

        During the melee, the jihadist looks up and calls out, “Allah, what happened to the 72 to virgins I was promised?”. He hears a voice respond: “Oh, I didn’t say 72 virgins; I said 72 Virginians.”

  4. Norm Ivey

    I am also opposed to the death penalty, but in this case I think it’s justified.

  5. Bill

    Why Do We Kill People Who Kill People To Show That Killing People Is Wrong ?
    from,Norman Mailer’s,The Executioner’s Song
    Ted Bundy comes to mind;a serial killer who escaped prison,to kill again…

    1. Barry

      We don’t kill people to show people killing is wrong.

      We execute people that are convicted of the most serious crimes possible against other human beings to remove them from this world as punishment.

      I am full supporter of the death penalty for the worst of the worst (Personally, I would exclude crimes of passion) – when there is clear evidence (video, DNA) of the crime- especially when it involves children.

  6. Burl Burlingame

    I’m OK with the penalty on this one. Just do it the way the Chinese do it — an unexpected bullet in the back of the head, instead of dragging it out like a countdown launch.

  7. bud

    Those people expecting some kind of closure because of the death penalty are going to be sadly disappointed. I’m with the family of the young boy who was killed who wanted a life sentence. They reasoned that Tsarnaev would haunt them through the appeals process for up to a decade whereas a life sentence would likely keep his on-air intrusion into their lives to a minimum.

    1. Barry

      Closure should have nothing to do with it.

      I support the punishment- closure isn’t an issue.

  8. Burl Burlingame

    On the other hand:

    “Blowing from a gun is a method of execution in which the victim is typically tied to the mouth of a cannon and the cannon is fired. George Carter Stent describes the process as follows:[1]

    “‘The prisoner is generally tied to a gun with the upper part of the small of his back resting against the muzzle. When the gun is fired, his head is seen to go straight up into the air some forty or fifty feet; the arms fly off right and left, high up in the air, and fall at, perhaps, a hundred yards distance; the legs drop to the ground beneath the muzzle of the gun; and the body is literally blown away altogether, not a vestige being seen.’

    “Blowing from a gun was a reported means of execution as long ago as the 16th century, by the Mughal Empire, and was used until the 20th century. The method was utilized by Portuguese colonialists in the 16th and 17th centuries, from as early as 1509 across their empire from Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka)[2] to Mozambique[3] to Brazil.[4] The Mughals used the method throughout the 17th century and into the 18th, particularly against rebels.[5]

    “Arguably, the nation most well known to have implemented this type of execution was the British Empire, in its role as paramount power in India, and in particular as a punishment for native soldiers found guilty of mutiny[6] or desertion.[7] Using the methods previously practised by the Mughals, the British began implementing blowing from guns in the latter half of the 18th century,[8] with the most intense period of use being during 1857 sepoy mutiny, when both the British and the rebelling sepoys used it frequently.[9]

    “The practice is said to have been still in use in Afghanistan in 1930.”

  9. Bryan Caskey

    I’m not so squeamish about the death penalty. The truly evil should be be dispatched without remorse.

    1. Bill

      And you decide who’s truly evil? That sounds like a decision an evil person might make.

      1. Barry

        Yes- we decide – in court.

        We decide all sorts of things in court. That’s the way it works.

  10. Jules Winnfield

    The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

    I been saying that sh– for years. And if you heard it, that meant your a–. I never gave much thought to what it meant. I just thought it was some cold-blooded sh– to say to a mother—— before I popped a cap in his a–. But I saw some sh– this morning made me think twice. See, now I’m thinking, maybe it means you’re the evil man, and I’m the righteous man, and Mr. 9 millimeter here, he’s the shepherd protecting my righteous a– in the valley of darkness. Or it could mean you’re the righteous man and I’m the shepherd and it’s the world that’s evil and selfish. I’d like that.
    But that sh– ain’t the truth. The truth is, you’re the weak, and I am the tyranny of evil men.

    But I’m trying, Ringo. I’m trying real hard to be the shepherd.”

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