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Boston Bar Asks Obama's AG Nominee To Remove Death Penalty In Tsarnaev Case
ResumeThere's a new call for the death penalty to be taken off the table in the federal trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
The Boston Bar Association is asking President Obama's nominee for U.S. attorney general to remove the death penalty from consideration.
The first president of the Boston Bar Association was the second president of the country: John Adams. Almost 12,000 lawyers belong to the group. And its opposition to the death penalty is not new either.
But the BBA has found a new opportunity now, with the Tsarnaev trial headed for high gear.
Julia Huston, the president of the Boston Bar Association, is reaching out to Obama's nominee, federal prosecutor Loretta Lynch, of the eastern district of New York.
"We are hopeful that the new attorney general will revisit the issue and perhaps give consideration to a plea agreement that involves life imprisonment as an alternative to the death penalty," Huston said.
The BBA statement says a sentence of life without parole for Tsarnaev "will more swiftly bring a close to this chapter in our history."
For more, listen to WBUR Morning Edition host Bob Oakes speak with Huston about the group's decision to appeal to Lynch on the Tsarnaev case.
This article was originally published on February 25, 2015.
This segment aired on February 25, 2015.
