The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is offering to throw its might behind convicted terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the belief that a new jury equipped with deeper insight into his relationship with his older brother would be reluctant to condemn him to death.
“In short, there simply is no set of facts too barbaric and no defendant too unsympathetic or lacking in remorse for a capital sentence to become inevitable. Even in the most aggravated cases, mitigation far less compelling than what Dzhokhar Tsarnaev would be able to present at a new trial has moved jurors, and it only takes a single juror to prevent a death sentence,” the advocates argue in a proposed amicus brief it wants the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston to consider as part of the 25-year-old’s bid for life.
Among examples cited is the life verdict obtained for Zacarias Moussaoui, who was charged in the 9/11 conspiracy and subsequent terrorist attacks that killed thousands in America. Moussaoui, 50, is one of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s neighbors at the federal Supermax prison in Colorado.
“A comprehensive mitigation case was able to persuade jurors to spare the life of a man who bragged about his ‘delight’ at the vast death and destruction that he helped bring about, who mocked survivors of his terror, and who vowed to kill more if able,” the brief states of Moussaoui.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s public appellate lawyers filed their 1,124-page opening brief in support of a new trial Thursday. It has since been sealed by the court. A date has not been set by which federal prosecutors must respond.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been awaiting execution since his conviction more three years ago for the deadly 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and the murder of MIT Officer Sean Collier – both carried out hand in hand with his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
In a seeming nod to his fan base and doubting conspiracy theorists, he stood at his trial and told the court he was guilty, adding, “If there’s any lingering doubt about that, let there be no more. I did do it along with my brother.”
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, a suspect in a gruesome unsolved triple homicide in Waltham on Sept. 11, 2011, died following the siblings’ firefight with police in Watertown.
Jurors who heard evidence and testimony in both Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s guilt-phase and penalty-phase trials were not permitted to hear about the Waltham slayings nor very much about his brother.
“Here, the jury was provided an incomplete portrayal of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s role in the offense: the district court precluded critical evidence that Tamerlan
Tsarnaev had committed horrific acts of violence,” the organization’s brief continues. “This Court should join those around the country vacating death sentences under circumstances in recognition of the likelihood that at least one juror will reach a different conclusion when permitted to see the complete picture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s less culpable role.”