Suspect 2 – Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – formally charged in #BostonMarathon bombings

Via USA Today:

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, still in serious condition with gunshot wounds, was arraigned in the hospital Monday on federal charges in connection with the Boston Marathon bombings that left 3 people dead and more than 180 injured.

Tsarnaev, 19, is specifically charged with one count of using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, resulting in death and one count of malicious destruction of property using an explosive device resulting in death.

The charges carry the maximum penalty of death.

According to a federal complaint, a sworn statement from an FBI agent says surveillance video shows that Tsarnaev placing a knapsack on the ground near the crowd barriers in front of the Forum restaurant and then talking for 18 seconds on his cell phone.

[…]

Tamerlan, a legal U.S. resident, suffered gunshot wounds and injuries from detonating a suicide-bomb vest, but may have succumbed to injuries received when Dzhohkar ran over his body as he fled the scene in a carjacked SUV.

If convicted of the most serious terrorist-related charges, Tsarnaev could face the death penalty under federal statutes, although his age could be a mitigating factor in final sentencing.

Investigators initially chose not to read Tsarnaev his Miranda rights against self-incrimination, opting instead for a rare public safety exception in questioning him. Such exceptions are permitted if there is a need to protect the public from immediate danger.

ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero says the exception applies only when there’s a continued threat to public safety and is “not an open-ended exception” to the Miranda rule.

Otherwise, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said on Monday Boston bombing suspect Dzokhar Tsarnaev will not be tried as an enemy combatant.

Unless that jury is full of bleeding-heart liberals, I don’t see this guy getting anything less than the death penalty for what he, alongside his brother – said to be more “radicalized” – did last Monday.

At 2:50 PM ET today, bells will toll around Massachusetts
in remembrance of the victims of last week’s bombings, which left 3 dead – including 8 y/o Martin Richard – and nearly 200 injured, some critically:

BOSTON — This city is preparing to commemorate the passage of a week since two bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, as people try to resume their lives after days of terror and the surge of relief that followed the killing and capture of the suspects in the attack.

At 2:50 p.m. EDT, the moment of the first blast that shook the city and the nation last Monday, people around the country will stop and observe a moment of silence. Bells will toll across Boston and elsewhere. The Massachusetts State Police said it will broadcast the silence in tribute to the victims of the blasts.

In Washington, President Obama, who visited Boston last week to help the city mourn and heal, will observe the moment of silence, the White House announced Monday morning.

Please continue to keep the victims and their families, including the families of 26 y/o MIT police officer Sean Collier, killed in overnight violence Thursday while in pursuit of the bombers, and 33 y/o MBTA officer Richard Donohue, injured critically – in your thoughts and prayers.

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