Eric Holder to Seek Death Penalty Against Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

The Boston Globe reports:

“After consideration of the relevant facts, the applicable regulations and the submissions made by the defendant’s counsel, I have determined that the United States will seek the death penalty in this matter. The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision,” Holder said in a statement.

Prosecutors notified a federal judge in Boston today of the decision.

“We support this decision and the trial team is prepared to move forward with the prosecution,” Boston US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said in a statement.

Miriam Conrad, who is leading Tsarnaev’s defense team, had no comment.

US District Court George A. O’Toole Jr. had given prosecutors until Friday to make the decision. With the authorization, the US attorney’s office can move forward in requesting a trial date. The death penalty can also now be a factor in any plea negotiations.

Tsarnaev, 20, faces 30 federal charges for setting off the April 15 bombs that plunged the region into terror for five days, until his arrest in Watertown. His older brother and alleged accomplice, Tamerlan, 26, was killed in a firefight with police.

Krystle Campbell, 29, Lingzi Lu, 23, and Martin Richard, 8, were killed in the blasts. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev also faces state charges in the fatal shooting of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier, who authorities say the brothers murdered as they tried to flee the area.

Prosecutors said in today’s filing with the court they would seek the death penalty for 16 of the charges Tsarnaev faces, and they would prove the following factors, as required by law: that the killings and injuries were intentional, that Tsarnaev willingly took part in the acts that resulted in death, and that he knew they could end in death.

The prosecutors also cited other factors that would allow for the death penalty: that death occurred during the commission of another crime, that the crime itself created a grave risk of death, that there was planning involved, that there were multiple killings and vulnerable victims, and that there was a “heinous, cruel and depraved manner of committing the offense.”

Prosecutors also cited several arguments that they weren’t required to make by law, including “betrayal of the United States,” and the selection of the Marathon as the site of the bombings.

Tsarnaev “enjoyed the freedoms of a United States citizen [then] betrayed his allegiance to the United States by killing and maiming people in the United States,” prosecutors said, adding that Tsarnaev had “demonstrated a lack of remorse.”

Prosecutors in federal cases where the death penalty is a possibility are required to decide at the outset whether to seek it. As attorney general, Holder held the ultimate authority to make the decision. . . .