Tsarnaev-the younger of the 2 brothers behind the Boston Marathon bombings; his older brother was killed soon after fleeing the police-saw his trial end with the sentence of death.
That was the only suspense in his trial-will he get the DP or spend the rest of his life in prison? The Boston jury-despite being a jury from Boston in the state of Massachusetts where the DP has been abolished since 1984 and the majority of people both oppose the DP generally and its use even in this case-rejected calls for mercy and sentenced him to death.
Martin O'Malley it seems to me, really opposes the death penalty as he opposes its use even here.
https://twitter.com/CarrieNBCNews/status/599318999546109952/photo/1
I personally have no problem with Tsarnaev being executed but I see that many liberals even here are upset about it. It's one area I would have to disagree. I don't have a problem at least in principle with the DP. This doesn't mean that I'm one of those advocates who actively pushes for its use-just I don't have a problem with its use in a-rare-case like this.
Rachel Maddow didn't outright state her opinion last night but it's not hard to guess-she's from Mass and is very liberal-more than me on certain issues.
She didn't discuss the morality of it-which is why most people oppose it-but the simple logistical fact that it could take a very long time till he's actually executed. For starters there is a first mandatory appeal. That itself can take 2 years.
She points out that in the last 50 years the federal government has executed exactly 3 people-all in the short period of 2001 to 2003. Actually the one counter example for the difficulty of executing anyone on Death Row is McVeigh who was sentenced in 1996 and executed in 2001.
So even though she's right that while the DP is legal for the federal government, the Feds don't use it too often, nevertheless, the McVay precedent shows the process can be rushed.
Rachel further buttresses her point by pointing out that the death penalty itself has been in crisis for the last year as everyone-both the Feds and state governments that have the DP-have run out of lethal injection drugs.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is hearing a case on the very use of lethal injection, So it could be found unconstitutional.
On the other hand, while it's true that the DP has been in crisis the last year, this is because of the action of the Obama Administration. In this case, Eric Holder himself sought the DP.
"Tsarnaev will become the 62nd federal inmate on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. But it has been more than a decade since the federal government executed an inmate, and the Obama administration is reviewing its protocol for carrying out the death penalty after a botched Oklahoma state execution last year."
"But the Justice Department, under Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., decided last year to seek the death penalty in Tsarnaev’s case. After Friday’s verdict was read, Holder’s successor, Loretta E. Lynch, issued a statement calling the sentence “the ultimate penalty” and “a fitting punishment for this horrific crime.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/jury-weighs-death-penalty-for-boston-marathon-bomber/2015/05/15/30a493b8-fb07-11e4-9ef4-1bb7ce3b3fb7_story.html
Again, the DP has been on ice because of the Obama Administration the Administration itself has called for it in this case. So it may not take this long this time.
On the other hand, it will likely be a much less messy appeal process for Mr. Morisi-the first ever democratically elected President in Egypt.
"An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced the country's first freely elected leader, ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, to death over a mass prison break during the 2011 uprising that eventually brought him to power."
That was the only suspense in his trial-will he get the DP or spend the rest of his life in prison? The Boston jury-despite being a jury from Boston in the state of Massachusetts where the DP has been abolished since 1984 and the majority of people both oppose the DP generally and its use even in this case-rejected calls for mercy and sentenced him to death.
Martin O'Malley it seems to me, really opposes the death penalty as he opposes its use even here.
https://twitter.com/CarrieNBCNews/status/599318999546109952/photo/1
I personally have no problem with Tsarnaev being executed but I see that many liberals even here are upset about it. It's one area I would have to disagree. I don't have a problem at least in principle with the DP. This doesn't mean that I'm one of those advocates who actively pushes for its use-just I don't have a problem with its use in a-rare-case like this.
Rachel Maddow didn't outright state her opinion last night but it's not hard to guess-she's from Mass and is very liberal-more than me on certain issues.
She didn't discuss the morality of it-which is why most people oppose it-but the simple logistical fact that it could take a very long time till he's actually executed. For starters there is a first mandatory appeal. That itself can take 2 years.
She points out that in the last 50 years the federal government has executed exactly 3 people-all in the short period of 2001 to 2003. Actually the one counter example for the difficulty of executing anyone on Death Row is McVeigh who was sentenced in 1996 and executed in 2001.
So even though she's right that while the DP is legal for the federal government, the Feds don't use it too often, nevertheless, the McVay precedent shows the process can be rushed.
Rachel further buttresses her point by pointing out that the death penalty itself has been in crisis for the last year as everyone-both the Feds and state governments that have the DP-have run out of lethal injection drugs.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is hearing a case on the very use of lethal injection, So it could be found unconstitutional.
On the other hand, while it's true that the DP has been in crisis the last year, this is because of the action of the Obama Administration. In this case, Eric Holder himself sought the DP.
"Tsarnaev will become the 62nd federal inmate on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. But it has been more than a decade since the federal government executed an inmate, and the Obama administration is reviewing its protocol for carrying out the death penalty after a botched Oklahoma state execution last year."
"But the Justice Department, under Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., decided last year to seek the death penalty in Tsarnaev’s case. After Friday’s verdict was read, Holder’s successor, Loretta E. Lynch, issued a statement calling the sentence “the ultimate penalty” and “a fitting punishment for this horrific crime.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/jury-weighs-death-penalty-for-boston-marathon-bomber/2015/05/15/30a493b8-fb07-11e4-9ef4-1bb7ce3b3fb7_story.html
Again, the DP has been on ice because of the Obama Administration the Administration itself has called for it in this case. So it may not take this long this time.
On the other hand, it will likely be a much less messy appeal process for Mr. Morisi-the first ever democratically elected President in Egypt.
"An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced the country's first freely elected leader, ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, to death over a mass prison break during the 2011 uprising that eventually brought him to power."
"The ruling applies to another 120 people, and is the latest in a series of mass death sentences handed down since the military overthrew Morsi nearly two years ago. The sentence will likely further polarize Egypt, a longtime U.S. ally grappling with an Islamist insurgency that has intensified since Morsi's overthrow."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/16/morsi-sentenced-to-death-_n_7296836.html
So one man-Morisi-doesn't deserve the DP but will very likely get it-and it won't take too long. Another man-Tsarnaev-is the kind of man the DP is supposed to be for but many worry nevertheless that it's wrong to take his life.
It underscores what different societies these two countries with recent high profile death penalty cases are.
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