Reflecting on the Boston Marathon Bombing Trial

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The Boston Marathon bombings happened on April 15, 2013 when two bombs exploded at 2:49 pm near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The bombers were brothers, Tamerlan & Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who moved to the United States after the father applied for political asylum. The younger Tsarnaev brother said the attacked the Boston Marathon in retaliation for U.S. wars in Muslim countries. The Boston Marathon Bombing Trial is important to American society because it changed the way we looked at acts of terrorism legally, showed that people must effectively pay for their actions, and that we must never let our guard down.
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev moved to the U.S. when they where 16 and 9 years old, respectively, when their father, Anzor Tsarnaev, …show more content…

Chuck Grassley, Iowa’s Republican Senator, was one of the first conservatives to publicly connect the bombings to the roiling immigration debate and questioned whether the attacks would suggest a need to slow down and re-examine immigration reform efforts (Abdullah). Patrick Leahy, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, “Last week opponents of comprehensive immigration reform began to exploit the Boston Marathon bombing…I urge restraint in that regard. Refugees and asylum-seekers have enriched the fabric of this country from our founding” (Abdullah).
The trial began on July 10, 2013 when Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was accused of 30 counts including four counts for murder, conspiracy, and use of a weapon of mass destruction, which are punishable by death. The judge overseeing the case was George O’Toole. The attorney for Tsarnaev was Judy Clarke. On January 30, 2014 U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the government was seeking the death penalty for Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev’s defense attorney Judy Clarke said “Dzhokhar fell under the influence of his brother, Tamerlan and if not for Tamerlan, the bombings would not have happened”

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