Published on: Monday, March 22, 2021

The Supreme Court granted the Justice Department's request to review the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit's decision that vacated the death sentence of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The appeals court held the trial court did not secure an impartial jury in light of the wall-to-wall media coverage of the attack. Previous coverage available here

"A core promise of our criminal-justice system is that even the very worst among us deserves to be fairly tried and lawfully punished," said the court in its 224-page opinion.

Then-Attorney General William Barr vowed to appeal the decision to reinstate the death penalty and followed through in October.

A reversal could put President Joe Biden in a difficult position because during his campaign he promised to push for the approval of legislation to eliminate the death penalty.

Defense attorneys said Tsarnaev failed to receive a fair trial because the court did not allow them to probe potential jurors about the influence media coverage of the bombing may have had on their impartiality. The court had declined their request to ask potential jurors content-specific questions, such as, "What stands out in your mind" from the news they had consumed about the marathon bombing.

The ruling from last July ordered the district court to impanel a new jury to hold a sentencing retrial for the death penalty convictions. But the appeals panel noted that Tsarnaev, who told the courtroom on the day of his sentencing that he was "guilty of this attack," would remain in prison for the rest of his life regardless of whether the death sentence is imposed.