The Surviving Boston Marathon Bomber's Death Sentence Could Be Overturned Again

A decade after the fatal 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, a new Netflix true-crime docuseries is revisiting the unprecedented investigation and pursuit of the two home-grown terrorists that paralyzed the New England city. American Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombing centers on the tense, terrifying days that followed the April 15, 2013 tragedy, culminating with the death of Tamerlan Tsarnaev and the arrest of his then-19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The Tsarnaev brothers planted and detonated two homemade pressure-cooker bombs near the marathon’s finish line, killing three and wounding hundreds. Following his arrest days later, Dzhokhar was indicted for 30 crimes, including 17 capital offenses. In 2015, a jury found Dzhokhar guilty of all 30 charges, including conspiracy and use of a weapon of mass destruction and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer. Though Dzhokhar’s attorneys argued that he should be spared a capital sentence because Tamerlan radicalized him and was the attack's mastermind, the jury ultimately decided that six of his crimes warranted the death penalty.

However, the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Dzhokhar’s death sentence in 2020 and ordered a new penalty-phase trial to decide whether he should be executed. Per the Associated Press, the panel found that Dzhokhar’s right to a fair trial under the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment had been violated, citing the trial judge not sufficiently questioning jurors about their exposure to news coverage of the bombing and that Dzhokhar’s lawyers had been wrongly barred from presenting certain evidence. However, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the 1st Circuit’s ruling and reinstated Dzhokhar’s death sentence in March 2022.

Despite Attorney General Merrick Garland’s July 2021 moratorium on federal executions, the Justice Department has continued to defend Dzhokhar’s capital sentence. Meanwhile, the convicted bomber has continued his appeal. In January 2023, Dzhokhar’s lawyers challenged issues that the Supreme Court did not consider in its ruling, including the trial judge’s treatment of two jurors who they claim lied during the selection process. One juror who said she had not commented about the case online had allegedly retweeted a post calling Dzhokhar a “piece of garbage,” while another jury member’s social media showed a friend had urged him to “play the part” so he could get on the jury and send Dzhokhar to “jail where he will be taken of.”

As the sentencing appeals process plays out, Dzhokhar is incarcerated at Colorado’s USP Florence ADMAX (ADX), aka the Alcatraz of the Rockies. During his time at the maximum security facility, Dzhokhar, who was 29 years old as of April 2023, tried to sue the federal government for $250,000, alleging that his treatment had been “unlawful, unreasonable and discriminatory” and as contributing to his “mental and physical decline,” citing the confiscation of a white baseball cap and bandana that he bought at the prison commissary and a limit of three showers per week. He reportedly also challenged special administrative measures that prohibit him from sending photos and hobby craft items through the mail.

Though Dzhokhar’s attempts to appeal his death sentence remain ongoing, several judges reportedly signaled agreement with his attorney’s argument about the jurors’ alleged bias. Retired federal judge Nancy Gertner told Boston’s WBUR radio station in January 2023 that Dzhokhar’s team has a “very good” case. “The system doesn’t work if people are not candid with the court,” Gertner explained, noting that “a key in this case was the judge could have done something about it.”