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Tsarnaev Jury to Begin Deliberations in Guilt Phase

The alternates in the Boston Marathon Bombing trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were disclosed today after closing arguments. The 12 jurors deciding his fate include 7 women and 5 men.

In closings today, the Government said Jahar and Tamerlan were partners and Jahar wanted to punish America. Reporter Jim Armstrong of WBZ in Boston has a lot of quotes from both side's closings on his twitter feed here.

Judy Clarke agreed Jahar committed the bombings, but focused on the different roles of the brothers. [More...]

"We don't deny that Jahar fully participated in these events. But if not for Tamerlan" they would not have happened.

"Dzhokhar Tsarnaev stands ready by your verdict to be held responsible for his actions."

What does any of this matter if we know #Tsarnaev carried the bomb down Boylston? It matters because you are entitled to know the full picture, Clarke says.

#Tsarnaev's tweets that seem ominous came from rap lyrics, from comedians, from poems. That's not a jihadi in the making, she says.

Let's look at #Tsarnaev's browsing history; he went to Facebook and VK (Russian Facebook) "This is a kid doing kid things."

"We do not deny that he had these extremist materials on his computer, but he's be honest about how prominent they were in his life & when."

"Let's be honest about what the evidence actually shows. We are not asking you to excuse the conduct."

"You know who made these bombs; it was Tamerlan."
Tamerlan was the leader, Jahar the follower. But for Tamerlan, these bombings would never have happened. Tamerlan bought all the ingredients. Tamerlan killed the officer. This is the theme the defense will focus on in closing, in an attempt to get a life sentence.

"It was Tamerlan who bought the pressure cookers."
Dzhokhar was in Dartmouth; There were no bomb-making instructions on Dzhokar's computer.

Tamerlan did the research, he had the Russian-language translation of the Inspire bomb-making docs.

Tamerlan alone talked to Dun Meng, you remember that. Tamerlan led, and Jahar followed.

It "is simply not true" that #Tsarnaev self-radicalized. The evidence is Tamerlan built bombs and Tamerlan killed Collier.

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  • Display: Sort:
    I oppose the death penalty (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Apr 06, 2015 at 11:15:15 PM EST
    that said, I'm not sure I would not personally prefer it to life without the possibility of parole.  

    In Isolation... (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by ScottW714 on Tue Apr 07, 2015 at 07:30:18 AM EST
    ...as well.

    In general, I like being alone and I feel like I could do a month in isolation, no problem, but to never talk to someone beyond the people guarding me would be horrific.

    I would go nuts, especially at his age.

    Parent

    Yes (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Apr 07, 2015 at 08:33:29 AM EST
    its hard to say until you have the choice to make I'm sure.  I might change my mind when there but I agree with you.   For me the the would be more about confinement than solitude.

    Parent
    Where Tsarneov will probably spend (none / 0) (#14)
    by Mr Natural on Tue Apr 07, 2015 at 12:06:37 PM EST
    the rest of his life -  The American Dungeon Facility in Florence, Colorado, aka, the ADX.

    It is, according to a former warden, "a clean version of hell."