The 2013 Boston Marathon was not expected to be any different than the 115 times the race was ran before. On Boylston Street, near the finish line, a bomb went off, followed by a second one, only 12 seconds later. The bombs consisted of pressure cookers filled with nails and ball bearings, all concealed in a back pack. There are instructions online on how to make a pressure cooker bomb. The explosions left 2 dead and hundreds injured. Just 4 days later, police suspected 26-year-old, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and 19-year-old, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, to be responsible. In a shootout with the police, Tamerlan is wounded, and would eventually die, leaving his brother to face 30 federal charges.

Opening statements in Tsarnaev’s trial would begin on March 4, 2015. The U.S. would call 23 times as many witnesses as the defense (92 to 4), and testimonies would continue through 15 days. 11 and a half hours of deliberations push 30 guilty verdicts on Tsarnaev. Now the case would go into penalty phase, leaving the jury to decide if the death penalty would be in order. A 14 hour deliberation positions Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to be executed.

Of course, controversy will arise whenever someone is sentenced to be killed. Some arguments are made more directly to the Tsarnaev trial, others are kept more broad. In the end, if a jury all agree someone deserves to be killed, I believe that the death penalty is made just. Some may argue that there’s no sense in taking another life, and that it will not change anything for those affected by lost loved ones. However, I feel if you were to ask those people affected, they would want the bomber to be held accountable for his actions. The death penalty, in many cases, is a necessary and favorable thing to do for humankind. You must remember, we do not sentence random people to death, instead, only those who pose a threat to our country and our people .

~ Tyler