Summary
U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Boston Marathon Bomber challenged his death sentence. Defendant Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, along with his brother, set off bombs at the Boston Marathon. Three people died and hundreds were gravely injured. Tsarnaev can be seen on camera carrying his homemade bomb, which he intentionally placed near a group of children watching the race. On appeal, Tsarnaev claimed that the trial judge's questioning of potential jurors regarding pretrial publicity violated his rights, even though the judge followed the requirements of the Sixth Amendment as found in a 1991 Supreme Court case from a state court. Tsarnaev also claimed that the trial judge erred in excluding marginally relevant evidence that his brother committed an unrelated murder earlier. The Court of Appeals agreed on both points and overturned the sentence.
CJLF entered the case to argue that the constitutional requirements clarified in 1991 apply equally in state and federal courts, and neither the Supreme Court nor the Court of Appeals should invent additional requirements for federal courts. CJLF also argued that the judge's ruling on evidence was well within his discretion under the Federal Death Penalty Act, and that provision of the act is constitutional. The Supreme Court on both points, 6-3, and reinstated the sentence.
