Giorgio: What Should Happen to the Marathon Bomber?

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Paul Giorgio, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Yesterday marked the beginning of the penalty phase of the Boston Marathon Bombing trial. No one was surprised when he was found guilty; since his defense team offered no real defense and decided to put all their effort into the penalty phase.

Since the Bomber was tried in Federal Court, the death penalty is on the table.

The Death Penalty is No Deterrent

I am against the death penalty because its supporters have argued that it is a deterrent to murder. It is not. No one sane commits a crime thinking they will get caught. No one commits a murder thinking they will get caught. The insane people on the other hand just don’t care. We haven’t gotten to the level on this country where we put the insane to death.

We like to hold ourselves up as an enlightened nation and people. Several Southern states that have the death penalty have put intellectually challenged people to death for crimes they were convicted of.

Today, we believe that forensic evidence is enough to convict someone, but is a startling report in Monday’s Washington Post, “The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in the FBI Laboratory's microscopic hair comparison unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000.” The cases include those of 32 defendants sentenced to death, 14 of those 32, have been executed or died in prison. Justice maybe blind, but it is not fair.

Marathon Bombing is Not a Crime

I do not view the Marathon Bombing as a crime. It was a premeditated act

of terrorism in our war on terrorism. So I am not bothered by the moral imperative that the death penalty does not deter.

Several of the victims and their families have come out against the death penalty in this case. The most poignant being the op-ed penned in the Boston Globe by the Richards family, parents of 9 year old Martin Richards, who was one of the three people who perished at the finish line.

In a picture that has been widely viewed, Martin Richards, sometime before he was killed was photographed with a sign that said “No more hate”.

It is hard not to hate the Marathon Bomber. You can hate him for what he did or for what he claims his religion is all about.

He seeks to be a martyr. Let’s deny him that wish. He seeks to be a hero for his cause. Let us deny him that too.

Life in SuperMax is Harsher Than Death

A far harsher sentence is to put him away for life in the Federal SuperMax prison in Florence Colorado.

In super max you are incarcerated in a cell that is about 80 square feet, made of concrete and steel with no windows. You are locked up 23 hours a day and have no human contact.

The prison in Colorado is home to the Una-Bomber, the Underwear bomber, the Oklahoma City Bomber among others.

The Boston Marathon Bomber will be right at home among this cadre of bombers.

He is 21 years old. He may live another 60 years.

So if revenge is what you want, this is the way to go. If you are against the death penalty, this too, is for you.

In this matter, let us listen to the voice of Martin Richards: “No more hate.”

But also, no freedom-ever.