Days after an appeals court vacated the death sentence for so-called Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, President Donald Trump tweeted a call for the 27-year-old to face the death penalty for his part in the 2013 terrorist attack.
“Rarely has anybody deserved the death penalty more than the Boston Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The court agreed that this ‘was one of the worst domestic terrorist attacks since the 9/11 atrocities’ Yet the appellate court tossed out the death sentence. So many lives lost and ruined,” he tweeted . “The Federal Government must again seek the Death Penalty in a do-over of that chapter of the original trial. Our Country cannot let the appellate decision stand. Also, it is ridiculous that this process is taking so long!”
Commenters were quick to accuse the president of attempting to shift the focus away from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic crisis in the U.S. and the various scandals facing his administration. Others suggested that Trump should be focused on creating a nationwide plan for tackling the deadly disease that has killed over 150,000 Americans.
“You have the time to tweet but not make a corona virus health care plan? What’s wrong with you?” wrote U.S. Army veteran and pundit David Weissman.
Tsarnaev’s punishment was overturned on Friday after a three-judge panel with the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that jurors were not properly vetted, as The Inquisitr previously reported. But while the execution was overturned, the judge made it clear that the convicted killer wouldn’t be leaving prison in the near future — if at all.
Tsarnaev was sentenced to death in 2015 after being convicted on 30 charges, including the use of a weapon of mass destruction. The attack committed by Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, killed three people and injured 260 more as a crowd was gathered to watch the Boston Marathon.
Two bombs were detonated at the finish line of the race. While Tamerlan died in a shootout with police in the events following the bombing, killing one officer and injuring another, Dzhokhar was captured and faced trial.
Attorneys argued that the older Tamerlan was the mastermind behind the attack and that Dzhokhar was merely going along with the idea. The jury didn’t agree and sentenced him to death.
However, it was later determined that several members of the jury may have had an opinion on the events prior to hearing the case, prompting the reversal of the jury’s decision.