The horrific bombing of the Boston Marathon in 2013 killed three people and wounded hundreds more.
One of the perpetrators, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was found guilty on 30 counts, including use of a weapon of mass destruction and malicious destruction of property resulting in death.
Tsarnaev was sentenced to death, but a recent ruling from the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week overturned that sentence, citing faulty juror selection. The judges, however, clarified that Tsarnaev would not be released from prison any time soon, if ever.
President Donald Trump took to Twitter to criticize the ruling.
Rarely has anybody deserved the death penalty more than the Boston Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The court agreed that this “was one of the worst domestic terrorist attacks since the 9/11 atrocities". Yet the appellate court tossed out the death sentence. So many lives lost....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2020
....and ruined. The Federal Government must again seek the Death Penalty in a do-over of that chapter of the original trial. Our Country cannot let the appellate decision stand. Also, it is ridiculous that this process is taking so long!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2020
The Trump administration is a substantial proponent of the death penalty. One year after Attorney General William Barr's Justice Department reauthorized federal executions, the United States executed its first federal prisoner in two decades last week. Another execution soon followed.
Now, 60 inmates are on federal death row.
Trump himself personally advocated for a death penalty ruling for the Exonerated Five—formerly known as the Central Park Five—who were accused of assaulting a woman. Trump paid for a full page ad in the New York Times calling for the Black and Brown teenagers' executions.
Regardless of their opinions on the sentencing of Tsarnaev, people thought Trump's priorities were hugely misplaced.
You have the time to tweet but not make a corona virus health care plan? What's wrong with you?
— David Weissman (@davidmweissman) August 2, 2020
Where is your health plan?
It's worth remembering that Trump waved a blank piece of paper in the Rose Garden, promising something SUPER SECRET Mexico deal in two weeks.
That was a year ago.
— Jay Lionel (@JayLionel7) August 2, 2020
150,000 dead from COVID
— Shfaffler #BLM (@shfaffler) August 2, 2020
Try to focus on what's going on right now. Pandemic, economic collapse, stuff like that.
— Anne Crothers (@healingworks) August 3, 2020
Trump continues to play golf when people are dying, families are grieving/starving/unemployment is reduced from 600 to 200. Time for him to take action to help the helpless, feed the poor, take care of this country. He must remember that not only White rich people live here.
— Viera Masih (@mahimamemoir) August 3, 2020
Trump's tweet came after the death toll for the virus surpassed 150 thousand, with many of his critics blaming Trump for deaths that could have been prevented with a national strategy and an early acknowledgment of the threat it posed.
Your incompetence and inaction have resulted in 158,375 American deaths. Your refusal to wear a mask has resulted in deaths. Packing thousands into a hall, in a pandemic, fully knowing you were putting their lives at risk, inevitably resulted in deaths.
— Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) August 3, 2020
Nah, I'm more focused on the 150k dead under Trump's botched pandemic response. Who would honestly come out in defense of that guy? Let's keep our eyes on the real issues.
— Heather Valdez (@heatvaldez) August 2, 2020
I wonder what kind of penalty a president who assists in the death of 156,000 COVID patients should get. Boston Marathon deaths were 3
— Astro Jester™ (@AstroJester) August 3, 2020
I think the guy responsible for 150 000 deaths should be locked up for life and not get the death penalty. 2 wrongs don't make a right!
— Gab McFadden (@gabmcfadden) August 3, 2020
The U.S. death toll of the virus is expected to reach over 200 thousand in the coming months.
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