The decision to seek the death penalty against Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tzarnaev sets up a rare trial in Massachusetts which does not have a state death penalty statute.
Federal capital crimes where the death penalty is being sought entail two separate trials before the same jury, according to David Frank, managing editor of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. If the jury’s verdict for the crime is guilty then the panel is asked to decide the punishment.
" And that in and of itself makes the case different, makes it complicated. It involves a whole set of factors you don't see in other cases in the courts."
There have only been two federal death penalty cases in Massachusetts in the last 25 years. A jury in Springfield sent former VA hospital nurse Kristen Gilbert to prison for life for killing four patients. A jury in Boston sentenced spree killer Gary Sampson to die, but it was overturned on appeal.
