For Boston Marathon bombing survivors, no single reaction to verdict
Survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing stood together facing the media after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death.
None of them felt the same.
For some, the death verdict was a relief. They got the result they wanted. Barring a successful appeal, the 21-year-old will die by lethal injection.
For others, it just means a new set of appeals, of hearings, of time spent in courtrooms.
For all of them, it’s another step forward and another step done in the 25-months since April 15, 2013.
“I know that there is still a long road ahead and many, many more days ahead but right now it feels like we can take a breath, and actually kind of breathe again,’’ Karen Brassard said. She and her husband suffered severe leg injuries in the attack.
“Happy is not the word I would use,’’ Brassard said. “There’s nothing happy about having to take someone’s life. I’m satisfied, grateful that they came to that conclusion.’’
Liz Norden, whose two sons each lost a leg in the bombing, said there are no winners today. This isn’t closure, but it is justice.
“I have to watch my sons put a leg on every day, so I don’t know,’’ she said.
Still, it feels like a weight has been lifted, she said. And, just like how she attended every day of the trial and penalty phase, Norden said she will be at every appeal hearing.
Melida Arredondo said today’s decision means more emails from the U.S. Attorney’s Office about hearings and changes in the case.
“For me, personally, it’s something that I was hoping to avoid,’’ she said. “Having personally endured several things in my own life that have dragged on, this seems like another thing that will drag on.’’
After the verdict, Arredondo retweeted a Boston Globe article about the expected lengthy appeals process.
The parents of the youngest victim, 8-year-old Martin Richard, made their feelings clear in a front-page letter in the Boston Globe after Tsarnaev was found guilty of all 30 counts against him. They wanted life. They wanted Tsarnaev out of the spotlight. They didn’t want their two surviving children to have to deal with him any more.
Bill and Denise Richard did not speak out after the verdict.
The prosecutors working the case? They aren’t paying attention to any of that. After deciding to pursue the death penalty — a process that includes talking to victim families about what they want to see — they turn their attention to the case.
“We deal with them by not focusing on that,’’ Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Weinreb said. “We have a job to do and we try to do it as best we can.’’
However they felt about the decision, the survivors who spoke said they were grateful to the jury.
“I want to let them know,’’ Brassard said. “I will and my family will be praying for them to heal through all of this.’’
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