Tsarnaev lawyers: " Government might have a completely erroneous story"

[soundsgreat]

Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyers asked today for the government to turn over interviews with the accused terrorist’s family as well as grand jury testimony, arguing the evidence could be critical as both sides prepare to make their death penalty arguments to the Justice Department.

“The government has taken the position that, ‘Look, we know what we have and you don’t need to know about it,’ ” attorney Judy Clarke told U.S. District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. “It’s of concern that the government thinks it can make a decision based on what they know without some defense input. They may have a completely erroneous story.”

...

“We have provided a great deal of information,” prosecutor William Weinreb told the court today. He said the six months the defense has had since getting the case “is reasonable time” for them to have compiled their own report to Holder based on “whatever they may have come up with in their own investigation of the case.”

Calling it “the biggest philosophical dispute we have with the government right now,” fellow public defender Miriam Conrad argued the missing discovery is potentially “relevant” and “exculpatory.” The defense has until the end of the day to submit formal requests for the evidence.

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/09/tsarnaev_lawyers_seek_family_interviews_for_death_penalty

Judy Clarke is a specialist for mitigations of the death penalty for candidates whose actual crime is not disputed. But the "erroneous story" remark sounds like she thinks he's not guilty.

Stuff for "conspiracy theories".

[X_Digger]

1. Typical defense attorney v prosecution drama.

DA/SA tries to hold back either material that could be spun in a light favorable to the defendant or things they consider useless busy work, but at the same time, the defense tries to paint the prosecution as holding back exculpatory evidence (whether true or not.)

[soundsgreat]

4. The point is...

the defense team obviously believes he's innocent. No plea deal. They go for it.

THAT should be the headline of the Boston Herald article. Not "Tsarnaev lawyers seek family interviews for death penalty defense" which is misguiding.

[Fawke Em]

7. Agreed.

I mention below that I'm a former crime reporter. My lead would have been more to your point.

[Eddie Haskell]

2. Stuff for his constitutional rights ...

And yours.

[Are_grits_groceries]

3. Judy Clarke was part of the defense team

for Susan Smith. I might not agree with her at times but she walks the walk. Her opposition to the death penalty is long-standing and not some fleeting fancy.
Clarke returned her $82,944 fee to SC (approved by the trial judge for her defense of Susan Smith) so that the funds could be used to defend other indigent defendants charged with crimes.[8]

[Fawke Em]

12. The sheep and the cow are adorable.

My son is named after a Ram and was born a Taurus and is smart as a Dolphin and loves all our rescued babies and we're from the South and he had to ask me what "grit" was. LMAO. He liked you because of your gifs.

[Fawke Em]

5. I have long believed (well, since reading about the kid, his Twitter feed

and hearing comments from his friends and acquaintances) that he was probably strong-armed into this.

My ex husband is Muslim and I know the sometimes tyrannical behavior an older brother can have on his younger siblings. Granted, this happens in many cultures, but in Islam and throughout most of the Middle East, the dominance of the eldest brother (even if he's younger than the eldest sister) is condoned. Not that it always turns out badly, but, in many cases, the condoning of this behavior results in a Napoleon-like attitude. The younger brother may have been forced or felt to believe he had no choice less he face a similar fate at the hands of the elder brother.

Not that I'm excusing Jahar Tsarnaev's behavior if he did, indeed do it (and I await trial - as a former crime reporter, I totally believe in "innocent until proven guilty&quot , but it might mitigate the death penalty or, hell, it might mean that he didn't do it.

Interesting case. My hubby's from Boston and we'll be going up there next month. I may pop by the courthouse just to read some of the filings. Bone up on my old profession.

[DeSwiss]

6. I'm surprised this lot of miscreants even bothered with the court system. - K&R n/t

[Fawke Em]

8. The Tsarnaevs or..

the FBI?



(I wink, but given what the FBI is accused of doing to the Tsarnaev friend, Ibragim Todoshev, I may not be that far off base: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/20/-ibragim-todashev-_n_3787420.html ).

[soundsgreat]

10. Here's a fresh interview with Todashev's girlfriend

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2013/09/20/new-details-fbi-shooting-death-tamerlan-tsarnaev-associate/

The Boston magazine more and more evolves to the spearhead of courageous journalism. They have also a critical article on retiring police chief Ed Davis. They raise subjects which the Globe, the NYT, the WaPo etc. don't touch.

[soundsgreat]

9. More detailed article here

Defense attorneys for the surviving suspect in the Boston marathon bombings said Monday, Sept. 23, they will ask for more evidence from prosecutors before the attorney general makes a decision on whether or not to recommend the death penalty.

At a status conference inside the Moakley District Courthouse in Boston, defense attorney Miriam Conrad said the evidence provided so far – which includes “a large amount of digital evidence, including videos and computer and telephone hard-drives” – is missing interviews and grand jury testimony from family members that might aid the defense’s case.

“We do plan to deliver to the government, hopefully by the end of the business day today, a detailed discovery request letter,” Conrad said. “But, that is not going to be the end all be all in the discovery requests for this case.”

Conrad said “extensive redactions” in evidence were “unnecessary” and the defense team believes the government is withholding evidence that might help their client.


http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x511627772/Tsarnaevs-lawyers-ask-for-more-info-before-death-penalty-decision#ixzz2fnA6F1pR


Reading the Boston Herald, you might believe the lawyers want more evidence only to save DT from the death penalty. Maybe I’m wrong, but this article seems to tell a different story. It looks like the lawyers demand evidence for the guilt question in general BEFORE talking about the death penalty.

[hrmjustin]

13. I am against the death penalty so I say jail him for life. He knew what he was doing so keep him in

cell for life, after a trail and guilty verdict of course.

He may deserve the death penalty but it is wrong to kill another human being.