Suspect in Boston Marathon Bombing Indicted

Suspect in Boston Marathon Bombing Indicted

abcnews.go.com

The 30-count indictment includes many of the same weapon-of-mass-destruction charges, punishable by the death penalty, that were brought against the 19-year-old Tsarnaev in April.

But prosecutors added charges covering the slaying of an MIT police officer and the carjacking of a motorist during the getaway attempt that left Tsarnaev's older brother, Tamerlan, dead.

(visit the link for the full news article)

They are listing off the charges that are being brought against the boston bomber.

I noticed two interesting things about this press coverage.

The first is the list of indictments.
He is being charged with conspiring to use and using a weapon of mass destruction.
He is also charged with conspiring to use and using a bomb.

Can he actually be found guilty on both of these or is it simply to make sure if they don't convict him of using weapon of mass destruction they get him for using bomb? That would make sense.

What is the difference between a bomb and a weapon of mass destruction? Is a weapon of mass destruction the new scary name for a bomb?

When everyone in the US and UK governments where talking about Sadam's weapons of mass destruction, where the public not lead to believe they were referring to nuclear devices of some degree or other?

Is this a move to re-define a weapon of mass destruction as any kind of bomb.

Maybe I am taking the list too seriously and he will just get convicted of the 'bomb' charges?

The other very interesting part to this story is what is to blame for this?

But the indictment made no mention of any larger conspiracy beyond the brothers, and no mention of any direct overseas contacts with extremists. Instead, the indictment suggests the Internet played a central role in the suspects' radicalization.

The papers detail how, after using the Internet to study jihad propaganda and bomb-making instructions, the brothers placed knapsacks containing shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs near the finish line of the 26.2-mile race.

The INTERNET played a central role! This will have major implications to follow.


abcnews.go.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures (e.g. buildings), natural structures (e.g. mountains), or the biosphere in general. The scope and application of the term has evolved and been disputed, often signifying more politically than technically. Coined in reference to aerial bombing with chemical explosives, it has come to distinguish large-scale weaponry of other technologies, such as chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear.

en.wikipedia.org...

Took them long enough. With the evidence against this fellow they should just skip the trial and take him straight to the injection chamber.

Originally posted by lacrimaererum
What is the difference between a bomb and a weapon of mass destruction? Is a weapon of mass destruction the new scary name for a bomb?

The answer to the second part is "yes", any bomb like thing nowdays is a WMD.
But for the rest of it, you'd actually have to see the original indictment paper work, and not just some reporters second hand guess at interpreting it.

Originally posted by TheCrimsonGhost
Took them long enough. With the evidence against this fellow they should just skip the trial and take him straight to the injection chamber.

Which evidence?

What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

He claims his innocence even though the media says he "confessed" meanwhile he was "unable to speak" at the time of the "confession" (according to the same media who says he confessed!)

From what I understood he was communicating with hospital staff and authorities via a notepad and pencil when he confessed. Maybe I'm wrong. Also there are eyewitnesses saying he placed the backpack, and video of him with it and then without it, then the subsequent shoot outs with authorities and running over his dead brothers body trying to escape.. that's certainly not the actions of an innocent man.

Originally posted by TheCrimsonGhost
From what I understood he was communicating with hospital staff and authorities via a notepad and pencil when he confessed. Maybe I'm wrong. Also there are eyewitnesses saying he placed the backpack, and video of him with it and then without it, then the subsequent shoot outs with authorities and running over his dead brothers body trying to escape.. that's certainly not the actions of an innocent man.

Do you know who these eye witnesses are/were?
The only "eye witness" testimony I am aware of...could ONLY have identified the older brother...as, said "eye witness" was AT the Finish Line...(and Dzhokhar never passed the Forum Restaurant). Likewise, said "eye witness" identified someone wearing a white cap, and sweatshirt... Tamerlan (the elder brother) was wearing a black cap and black/dark jacket.
The "eye witness" said he had eye-to-eye contact with the person who set the backpack down (at the eye witnesses' feet)... Tamerlan was wearing dark sunglasses.
No photographs or video of the elder brother has made it into the public eye, nor have the FBI claimed to have any such "evidence", once he walked out of view of the Forum Restaurant surveillance camera.
The former FBI Criminal Complaint/Affidavit did not state that there was conclusive evidence, from the video of Dzhokhar, that he set the backpack down... They used a photo from across the street to claim "this is proof" that some movement Dzhokhar made while standing in front of the Forum Restaurant, was in fact, him setting the "knapsack" on the ground.
I would like to see what has been added (if any actual substance) to this "Indictment".
The rest of your statements can be treated with "relativity".

ETA: I am not saying I believe Dzhokhar to be entirely innocent. The story that has been told us is "messy" at best. I have now looked at (read) the Indictment, and find that some of the "claims", if true, are more incriminating...while some "are less" (in other words - they appear to introduce more issues of plausible deniability).
Don't know if they're trying to say that it is illegal to download certain documents, as a U.S. citizen, or if they're simply trying to build a case for motive & rationale -- but, it might be worth KNOWING which of the two, it is.

reply to post by lacrimaererum

A lot was made of the announcement that "law enforcement" found a note written by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev while hiding in the boat in the backyard of a Watertown residence.
The indictment "quotes" portions of said note, as "allegation #10". Allegations 1-10 are "re-alleged" repeatedly throughout the document/indictment...

#10. On April 19, 2013, while DZHOKHAR A. TSARNAEV was hiding from police in a drydocked boat in a Watertown, Massachusetts backyard, he wrote a message on an inside wall and beams of the boat that said (among other things): “The U.S. Government is killing our innocent civilians;” “I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished;” “We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all;” “Now I don’t like killing innocent people it is forbidden in Islam but due to said [unintelligible] it is allowed;” and “Stop killing our innocent people and we will stop.”

www.cnn.com...

If Dzhokhar did inscribe these quips (among others) into/onto the boat - it is very incriminating.
Of course - unless he fully admits to the same...the question of - was he the author, or a patsy - will stay alive.

Another "fact" added to the story, is the allegation that, on April 14, 2013 (the day prior to the Marathon), Dzhokhar purchased a pre-paid cell phone...and...that it was on this cell phone that he called his brother, Tamerlan, only seconds prior to the first (then, second) blast.

I am still curious to see how the detonations will be explained (if they ever are).

reply to post by lacrimaererum


If I had to guess the WMD indictment refers to the Marathon Bombing while the bomb indictment refers to the use of explosives during the police chase.