Defense: Supermax Prison Is Miserable, So Send Dzhokhar Tsarnaev There
In a counter-intuitive move, defense attorneys for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev emphasized on Monday that life in supermax prison would be a miserable existence for Tsarnaev.
“He goes here and he’s forgotten,’’ attorney David Bruck said during opening statements of the penalty phase. “No more spotlight like the death penalty brings. … No martyrdom.’’
It’s a starkly practical line of argument for the defense that takes into consideration both the harsh conditions at the U.S. federal supermax prison ADX and the likelihood of years of appeals if he receives the death penalty.
Prisoners at ADX, including shoe bomber Richard Reid and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, are imprisoned in a tiny room for 23 hours a day and have very little contact with the outside world. Bruck described the prison as the place “the government keeps other terrorists who used to be famous.’’
“There will be no autobiography,’’ Bruck said. “There will be no nothing.’’
This opening argument was a combination of the “just put him away already’’ argument and the “death is the easy way out’’ argument that other opponents of the death penalty for Tsarnaev have publicly made. It is also very similar to the one made by Bill and Denise Richard, the parents of 8-year-old victim Martin Richard, in a statement to The Boston Globe. By putting Tsarnaev in prison instead of giving him the death penalty, he would fade from the public’s view faster. That would allow the city to heal, they argued.
Until now, the defense has admitted Tsarnaev perpetrated the bombings, but argued that he was under the influence of his domineering older brother Tamerlan. That will still be the main aspect of the defense’s argument in this part of the trial, but it will be buttressed by the practical argument of what a life in prison entails.
“You’ll punish him and protect society at the same time,’’ Bruck said. “As awful as this crime was, a lifetime in prison to face what he has done is the better choice. For everyone.’’
The Alcatraz of the Rockies
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