Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleaded not guilty after he was arrested for using weapons of mass destruction on April 19 as a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing that took place four days before his arrest, killing three people and injuring over 260.
Tsarnaev could be facing the death penalty. Civil rights groups are now getting involved due to a concern that the security measures placed on him and his defense are too restrictive.
“I think he does deserve the death penalty because he intended to kill multitudes of people and cause terror in a city,” Eastern Michigan University graduate student., Chad Shoemaker said.
These security measures state that Dzhokhar be held in solitary confinement and that his calls and visits be monitored. There are also restrictions on what his lawyers are able to do.
His lawyers feel that federal prosecutors are making their defense more difficult by withholding evidence such as his family’s testimony.
Tsarnaev is currently being held at Fort Devens in Ayer, Mass. and a hearing is scheduled for Nov. 12.
“He showed no regard for human life,” Shoemaker said.
The other suspect in the bombing was his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, who died in a police shootout a few days after the bombing. His brother was also a suspect in another investigation where three men were killed on Sept. 11, 2011.
Police have also discovered a note, thought to be written by Dzhokhar, which states:
“The U.S. government is killing our innocent civilians. I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished.”
EMU sophomore Julia Otero said that the death penalty may be acceptable in cases involving mass murder, raping and killing.
“But at the same time I don’t because there have been some people who have been sentenced to the death penalty and were falsely accused for the crime,” Otero said.
