The Boston bomber Jochar Zarnajew, who was originally sentenced to death, has been successful in his appeal against the death penalty. An appeals court overturned the sentence on Friday. As justification, the court stated that in the trial against Zarnajew the judge responsible had not sufficiently checked the selected jury for bias. The appellate court ordered a lower court to start a new trial in which Zarnayev’s new sentence could be heard.
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Zarnajew and his older brother Tamerlan detonated two explosive devices in the target area of the Boston Marathon in April 2013. Three people were killed and more than 260, some seriously injured. A policeman and a tamerlan were also killed during the flight, which lasted several days. Jochar was arrested a little later. In 2015 he was sentenced to death by lethal injection, but appealed shortly thereafter – with which he was now successful.
Failure to select the jury
In the justification, judge O. Rogeriee Thompson wrote that in the Zarnaev trial, the judge responsible “failed” to correctly conduct the jury selection process. This also allowed jury members “who had already formed an opinion that Jochar was guilty.” Before the trial, “shocking” photos and videos of Zarnajew and his brother were published in the media, which they showed before the attack. “The district court was unable to identify prejudice or bias by refusing to ask potential jurors content-specific questions about what they had read and heard about the case,” it said.
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However, Zarnaev cannot hope to be released soon. The three competent judges of the appeals court said that Zarnayev would spend the remaining days in prison. “The only question is whether he will die from execution.”
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A spokeswoman for the prosecutor said the decision would be reviewed and that it would have more to say “in the coming days and weeks”. There was initially no public reaction from Zarnaev.
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