Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Bomb Suspect Tsarnaev Seeks Death Penalty Lawyers for Defense - Bloomberg

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, asked a court to appoint two lawyers with experience in death penalty cases to help with his defense.

Tsarnaev’s lawyer, Miriam Conrad, said in a filing in federal court in Boston that two lawyers who have defended capital prosecutions should be appointed, “given the magnitude of this case.”

Conrad cited the case against Jared Loughner, the gunman who killed six people and injured 13, including former Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was allowed to hire two attorneys with experience in death penalty matters to assist the public defender. Loughner pleaded guilty to the 2011 rampage and is serving life in prison.

Tsarnaev, 19, was charged with executing the April 15 bombings with his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died of injuries sustained in a gun battle with police four days after the attack.

The case is U.S. v. Tsarnaev, 13--mj-02106, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston).

To contact the reporters on this story: Lindsay Fortado in London at lfortado@bloomberg.net; Janelle Lawrence in Boston at jmlawrence@me.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net; Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net