To the Point
Prosecuting the Boston Bombing Suspect
Lying in a hospital bed, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged today with using weapons of mass destruction in last week's Boston Marathon bombing. Some politicians have demanded that he not be tried in federal court but that he be designated an enemy combat, which would deprive him of his rights as an American citizen.
By Warren Olney • • 1 min readLying in a hospital bed, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged today with using weapons of mass destruction in last week's Boston Marathon bombing. Some politicians have demanded that he not be tried in federal court but that he be designated an enemy combat, which would deprive him of his rights as an American citizen. At the White House today, spokesman Jay Carney announced, "He will not be prosecuted as an enemy combatant. We prosecute this terrorist through our civil system of justice under US law" in federal criminal court. There's still debate about that, and about whether the FBI "dropped the ball" when Russia asked about Tamerlan, Tsarnaev's now-deceased older brother. We update those controversies and hear what's at stake for American Muslims.
Warren Olney
former KCRW broadcaster
Kerry Cavanaugh
editorial writer at the Los Angeles Times
Anna Scott
Former KCRW Housing and Homelessness Reporter
Christian Bordal
Managing Producer, Greater LA
Andrew Cohen
senior editor at The Marshall Project, and a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice
Kevin Williamson
National Review
William Braniff
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism