<p>I don’t really care whether he gets the death penalty or life in prison. I just hope the trial doesn’t turn into too much of a circus, and ends reasonably quickly, and that nobody ever has to hear his name again. And that all the conspiracy nuts who claim he didn’t do it – or even that the whole event was “faked” and never happened (just like the moon landing, I suppose) – get no publicity or platform for their views, whatsoever.</p>
<p>Personally, I sort of like the idea of him spending the rest of his life in solitary confinement. Maybe with a laminated clipping of an article talking about him running over his brother with the car while escaping the gun fight.</p>
<p>Lots of time with nothing else to do other than to think about how he got himself there. No martyrdom, no 72 virgins, no chance to ever get out or do anything other than sit in solitary forever, alone with his solitary thoughts.</p>
<p>My son, DIL and newborn grandson were at the marathon about two or three blocks from the explosions. Just before the explosions, my DIL had posted a funny picture of my grandson, with the caption “what babies wear to watch the Boston Marathon.”
They were under lockdown.</p>
<p>I have no opinion on the death penalty because I see both sides. </p>
<p>But I don’t want this guy to have the self satisfaction of martyrdom. I don’t want him to think he’s winning some sort of twisted prize. I want him to resent every continued miserable day of his existence.</p>
<p>^^ You may wish for that, but the cruel and unusual punishment clause may get him a life where he periodically gets together with his prayer partners, watches TV, reads books, earns college credits, has his daily exercise routine, free food and an a/c room. Then twenty five years later, someone decides he’s a changed person and is released back to society.</p>
<p>Since he is now only 19 years old, it certainly seems possible that he could be a changed person in 25 years, don’t you think? He could become a worthwhile person. He could do good. Whether he should be confined to doing that good in prison is another question. I could see both sides.</p>
<p>I don’t claim to be an expert, but from what I’ve read there are a lot of people in solitary who see the sun for precisely one hour per day, and are spoken to very little by anyone. Few of them have done anything as horrendous as he.</p>
<p>Perhaps it would be better if he becomes someones toy. Sorry, unkind thought, but justice comes in many forms…</p>
<p>In a federal death penalty case, the jurors must be unanimous in support of execution. [Seeking</a> death penalty in Boston case? A long road - News Local Massachusetts - Boston.com](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/07/09/seeking-death-penalty-boston-case-long-road/UN733u2G4k5S8p3TqISGGK/story-1.html]Seeking”>http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/07/09/seeking-death-penalty-boston-case-long-road/UN733u2G4k5S8p3TqISGGK/story-1.html)</p>
<p>This has resulted in the 9-11 conspirator getting life since one juror refused to vote for execution.</p>
<p>A “death-qualified jury” is a jury composed of jurors who are not categorically opposed to the imposition of capital punishment and are not of the belief that the death penalty must be imposed in all instances of capital murder—that is, they would consider life imprisonment as a possible penalty.</p>
<p>That’s a good article, 07DAD. I would add that international relations issues could come into play in deciding whether to seek the death penalty or not in this case.</p>
<p>I still expect the prosecution to seek the death penalty, but as the article suggests, it wouldn’t be surprising if a deal is cut for life in prison. It’s not hard to imagine that there might be one person on the jury who wouldn’t be willing to vote for the death penalty for this individual–his defense will probably be able to make him look more sympathetic than Zacharias Moussawi.</p>
<p>Guess who’s America’s Next Top Model contestant? :eek: [Boston</a> Bomber: How Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Fell Into Radical Islam | Culture News | Rolling Stone](<a href=“http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/five-revelations-from-rolling-stones-boston-bomber-cover-story-20130716]Boston”>Boston Bomber: How Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Fell Into Radical Islam – Rolling Stone)</p>
<p>I think criticism of Rolling Stone for their cover is ill-conceived. It’s had many covers about news stories–it doesn’t always have a rock star on the cover.</p>
<p>Perhaps, if he wasn’t posing like a movie star…</p>
<p>It’s a head shot. It’s not so different from the photo they had on the cover of Charles Manson–except, of course, this kid is a lot better looking than Manson. Clearly, that’s what’s objectionable about the picture to those who are complaining about it. If he were ugly, nobody would be complaining–perhaps RS wouldn’t have run the picture, either, although there have been plenty of ugly people on the cover of the Rolling Stone. Is there a claim that the article itself is sympathetic?</p>
<p>People don’t read Rolling Stone much so they forget the long history of investigative reporting. They published some of the best stuff about the financial crisis. (Matt Taibi maybe?)</p>
<p>They published Hunter Thompson, for pete’s sake. </p>
<p>People want to find fault and our society now allows instant feedback of every reaction.</p>
<p>Aw, c’mon Hunt. It has nothing to do whether he is physically attractive or not. If you watch ANT, Tyra Banks talks about “smizing” and DT is doing it well on the cover with his come-hither eyes and the smirk on his lips.</p>
<p>Added: I’ve read Taibbi’s articles on financial cris and vampire squid articles.</p>
<p>Rolling Stone hasn’t been worthwhile reading since political writer William Greider left years ago.</p>
<p>The cover is very similar to the Jim Morrison cover of RS in September 1981.</p>
<p>Timothy McVeigh was on the cover of Time twice.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I get the objection. He’s not “posing” - it’s not as though RS sent a camera crew and photographer out. It’s just the same head shot that has been out in the public domain since the bombings. RS often has serious news coverage. I look forward to reading the article.</p>
<p>
Of course it does. If RS had published his mug shot, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. But they didn’t. They glamorized the shot - he looks like any of their other rock stars. Given the audience who still reads RS, it’s just a bad choice.</p>
<p>Chedva, I don’t think you understand my post. My concern about the cover has nothing to with DT’s level of attractiveness. I find his “smizing” cover disrespectful. Pizzagirl, for me there is a difference between a candid shot and a posed shot. A picture is worth a thousand words.</p>
<p>Isn’t this picture a selfie that he took? RS didn’t do anything to it, as far as I can see from other places it’s been published. Maybe they should have darkened his skin tone, like Newsweek did to O.J. Simpson, so he would have looked more dangerous.</p>
<p>I think it’s a good cover. It makes you ask, “How did this kid become a deadly bomber?” And that’s a really good question.</p>
<p>The article is available online, and I’ve read it. Not much investigative journalism in it; just a compilation of info available well before now. (I did find it interesting that according to nurses in the hospital, Bomber “cried for two days.” Poor baby. There was and still is a lot more crying on the part of the victims and their loved ones!)</p>