Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Defense: Decision To Vacate Death Penalty 'Straightforward And Fair'
BOSTON (CBS) – Attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev issued a statement Friday night, calling the decision to vacate the 27-year-old's death sentence "straightforward and fair."
A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ordered a new penalty-phase trial on whether Tsarnaev should be executed.
Federal Defenders of New York issued a statement following the decision.
We are grateful for the Court's straightforward and fair decision. If the government wishes to put someone to death, it must make its case to a fairly selected jury that is provided all relevant information. The Court rightly acknowledges, as do we, the extraordinary harm done to the victims of the bombing. It is now up to the government to determine whether to put the victims and Boston through a second trial, or to allow closure to this terrible tragedy by permitting a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
President Donald Trump commented on the decision earlier in the day, calling the ruling "ridiculous."