Seeking death penalty in Boston case? A long road

By Pete Yost

Associated Press

July 9th, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) – If the Obama administration tries for the death penalty against Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, it could face a long, difficult legal battle in a state that hasn’t seen an execution in nearly 70 years.

Attorney General Eric Holder will have to decide several months before the start of a trial – if there is one – whether to seek death for Tsarnaev. It is the highest-profile such decision yet to come before Holder, who personally opposes the death penalty.

Tsarnaev will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Boston on Wednesday afternoon – the first public court appearance for the teenager who was found wounded in a boat stored in a suburban backyard after a massive manhunt and a shootout with police in which his brother died last April.

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