‘Why do you want to murder somebody else?’
Death penalty opponents outside courtroom react to death sentence
Joe Kebartas stood outside the trial every day, hoping he could convince the jury not to sentence Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death. He’s disappointed.
“Why,’’ he said after the death penalty verdict was delivered. “Why do you want to murder somebody else?’’
Kebartas, a South Boston resident and member of Veterans for Peace, was one of many people outside the courtroom Friday who were dissatisfied with the jury’s verdict.
“We’ve been following the trial and we wanted to come down here and see it through,’’ said Khrystyne Baltodano, who was standing outside the courthouse with friends. “Personally I’m disappointed, given what the families wanted.’’
Kebartas, who says he has been protesting the war in Afghanistan for 14 years, said he couldn’t imagine not being at the courtroom every day.
“I’m personally against the death penalty because I don’t think the state should murder people,’’ he said. “And that’s what the death penalty is. Putting a person to death is totally illegal and immoral. No one has a right to murder someone.’’
Michael Sullivan, who stood with Kebartas, was also disappointed, but said the next thing for him to do was move on.
“I’ll go on to the next task,’’ he said. “Now, I’ll live my life like I always do.’’
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