At the Boston Bomber’s trial (Dzhokhar Tsarnaev), the family of the youngest victim, Martin Richards (age 8), has come forward to ask that Tsarnaev’s life be spared.  The first part of his trial has ended with the jury finding him guilty.  (No surprise)  Now, the second part starts where the government is asking the jury to sentence Tsarnaev to death for his actions in the terrorist act against many victims.

The Richards family has suffered through not only the loss of their child but also the weeks involved in the trial.  You’d think they would agree with the government and ask for the death penalty for the victim.

Why don’ they?

Actually, they didn’t argue against the death penalty, but instead are concerned with the endless maneuvering that will occur afterward—the court appearances, the appeal process, and endless press scrutiny.

As the father, Bill Richard said, “…the endless appeals will never let them move on, forcing the other two children to grow up with the lingering painful reminder of what the defendant took from us.”  See article in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/18/us/martin-richard-boston-marathon-bombing.html?ref=us&_r=0

In my own experience as a prosecutor, I’ve had similar experiences with victims.  Let me tell you a quick story.

The case I prosecuted involved two young girls who said their mother’s live-in boyfriend and sexually assaulted both of them.  The victims were 8 and 10.  At the first trial, the girls testified in great but painful detail what the man had done to them.  Unfortunately, the jury came back with 11-1 vote for conviction.  In a criminal trial, the vote must be unanimous—so we were faced with re-trying the case.

I talked for a long time with the mom, our victim/witness advocate, and the girls.  Should we do it again?  Particularly, considering the girls would have to go into open court again and, in front of dozens of strangers, testify about the painful details all over again.  We strongly urged Mom to think about that aspect.  She was so angry with the accused man she insisted that we try the case again.

Reluctantly, we did so.  At the trial, the girls got on the witness stand once again and when I asked them about the details that made the defendant culpable, the girls froze.  Neither victim was able to say what had happened to them.

The jury came back with a not guilty and the defendant went free.

A sad but true story about how the victim’s feelings and further suffering do make a difference in the outcome of a case.  Was justice done in the case of these two girls?  Probably not as I felt convinced the defendant was guilty.  But could the girls go one with their lives and try to forget the trauma?  Yes.  Which was more important?

The nice ending to the story was several weeks later I received two water color paintings in the mail.  (This was before the Internet!!)  Each girl had painted a picture for me and thanked me for doing all that I could.

What a great but frustrating ending!