After Tsarnaev Gets Death, a Middle Georgia Marathoner and Law Professor Ponders the Death Penalty

By Dave Oedel
On Friday, May 15, 2015, the Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19 at the time of the bombing two years ago, was sentenced by a unanimous federal jury to death instead of life in prison after Tsarnaev earlier had conceded participating in the murders.
My wife and I have run the Boston Marathon three times in the past few years, and my sister-in-law witnessed the bombs exploding near the finish line. None of that gives me any more insight than anyone else on the appropriateness of the death penalty in Tsarnaev’s case. In its extensive coverage yesterday, though, the New York Times suggested that most Massachusetts citizens, where I was born and raised, and by extension many Boston marathoners, are offended by the verdict.
The Times and its friends didn’t poll me. After young Dzhokhar tried to kill people like my family members and me at the world’s most iconic marathon, … Continue Reading
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