The Canonization of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

5 Responses

1. Dear Mr Donovan: you may be interested in this re the Prosecutor: http://video.foxnews.com/v/4241116900001/expert-witness-in-tsarnaev-trial-it-was-a-religious-crime/?playlist_id=930909787001#sp=show-clips

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2. Hadn’t seen that, Sebastian. Thanks. It’s sad to see a federal officer of the court ignore the self-evident in the interests of supporting spurious political hokum. We not only have Tsarnaev’s words, we had his confession written on the inside of the boat where he was hiding.

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3. Massachusetts abolished its death penalty in 1984. Mr. Tsarnaev received the death penalty from a federal prosecution, not a Massachusetts prosecution. The federal death penalty is found in the United States Code, Title 18, chapter 228, sections 3591-3598.

   Additionally you state that, “If justice were truly served, Dzhokhar would be dumped into the general prison population at Walpole where the younger Tsarnaev could become a jailhouse tsarina overnight.”

   The correct name of the institution is Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Cedar Junction. This facility straddles the town line of Walpole and Norfolk, MA. In fact more of the facility resides in Norfolk than Walpole, but the prison utilizes the South Walpole, MA, Zip Code for all mail. This is a Massachusetts prison, not a federal prison. Mr. Tsarnaev will spend his time in the federal system, as his pre-trial incarceration attests. He was held at the only Bureau of Prisons facility in Massachusetts -Federal Medical Center, Devens. Confusion may have come from the fact that the ‘Shoe bomber’, Richard Reid, was briefly held at MCI – Cedar Junction while awaiting federal trial. His affiliation with Al Qaeda prompted authorities to hold him at the only maximum security facility in the area, due to his arrest at Logan International Airport – Boston.

   Christopher Cercone, Esq.
   Concord, Massachusetts

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4. Thanks Chris. I understand the differences between jurisdiction, geography, facility – and who uses the death penalty. I also know that high-security is a federal euphemism for special treatment, if not celebrity. Forgive my licence with the details of the latest Justice Department soap opera. Indeed, I believed was writing about justice, not the law – very different things these days, I’m sure you have observed.

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5. “Martyrdom covers a multitude of sins” was indeed the best way for G. Murphy Donovan to conclude this incisive analysis of why the worst of jihadi fanatics has already achieved canonization by a large part of the Left.

   What a contrast with the Sacco-Vanzetti Case from 1927 where doubts about their guilt linger but the honest voices mobilized for their case have resonated for generations. There were indeed suspicions of anti-Italian and anti-immigrant prejudice, although their openly voiced support for violent anarchism made them suspect from the start.

   After only a few hours’ deliberation, the jury found them both guilty Sacco and Vanzetti guilty of first-degree murder on July 14, 1921. Appeals cited conflicting ballistics evidence, a prejudicial pre-trial statement by the jury foreman, and a confession by another alleged participant All appeals were denied by trial judge Webster Thayer and eventually by the Massachusetts State Supreme Court. By 1925, the case had drawn worldwide attention.

   Celebrated intellectuals pleaded for their pardon or for a new trial. They were sentenced to death in 1927.

   Responding to a massive influx of telegrams urging their pardon, the Massachusetts governor appointed a three-man commission to investigate the case and after three weeks of interviews with the judge, lawyers, and several witnesses, the commission upheld the verdict. Sacco and Vanzetti were executed via electric chair on August 23, 1927 provoking world wide riots.

   The publication of their eloquent letters professing innocence intensified belief in their wrongful execution. In 1977, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation that Sacco and Vanzetti had been unfairly tried and convicted and that “any disgrace should be forever removed from their names”, but did not proclaim them innocent. Honest observers have disagreed on the outcome but their elevation to the Canon of Sainthood by the Left seems wholly incongruent with the two Tsarnaev brothers whose deeds will always rank in disgrace, contempt and abomination by any fair minded audience.

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