Bill and Denise Richard, parents of the youngest victim of the Boston Marathon bombings, do not want convicted terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to receive the death penalty.
In a column in the Boston Globe on Thursday, the couple said the endless appeals and legal maneuvering that will accompany an execution will stretch out the suffering for their family.
“Our family has grieved, buried our young son, battled injuries, and endured numerous surgeries — all while trying to rebuild lives that will never be the same,” the Richards wrote. “We sat in the courtroom, day after day, bearing witness to overwhelming evidence that included graphic video and photographs, replicated bombs, and even the clothes our son wore his last day alive.”
“We urge the Department of Justice to bring the case to a close,” they said. “We understand all too well the heinousness and brutality of the crimes committed . . . The defendant murdered our 8-year-old son, maimed our 7-year-old daughter, and stole part of our soul . . . The continued pursuit of that punishment could bring years of appeals and prolong reliving the most painful day of our lives. We hope our two remaining children do not have to grow up with the lingering, painful reminder of what the defendant took from them, which years of appeals would undoubtedly bring.”
In the days before the couple's essay appeared, Jennifer Lemmerman — whose police officer brother was killed by the Tsarnaev brothers — said on social media that she was against the death penalty, adding that it would bring her no peace to see Tsarnaev killed.
“Whenever someone speaks out against the death penalty, they are challenged to imagine how they would feel if someone they love were killed. I’ve been given that horrible perspective and I can say that my position has only strengthened,’’ she wrote on her Facebook account, according to the Globe.
Massachusetts doesn’t have the death penalty but Tsarnaev’s federal conviction puts capital punishment on the table, the newspaper noted.
Tsarnaev, 21, was convicted last week in the case of the Boston Marathon bombings, which killed three and injured more than 260 in 2013.
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