A federal appeals court on Friday overturned Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's death penalty sentence for helping carry out the 2013 attack, which killed three people and wounded more than 260 others.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upheld much of Tsarnaev's conviction but ordered a lower-court judge to hold a new trial strictly over what sentence Tsarnaev should receive for the death penalty-eligible crimes he was convicted of.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said his office is reviewing the decision and will have more to say "in the coming days and weeks." A lawyer for Tsarnaev did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last month the U.S .Supreme Court cleared the way for resumption of federal executions. Three people have been put to death so far.
However, Tsarnaev'a fate has long remained in limbo, though he was sentenced to die back in 2015 for his role in the fatal April 2013 bombing.
According to South Coast Today, Tsarnaev’s lawyers in December 2019 argued in front of the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. Their claim was that the death penalty ruling should be thrown out because their client couldn't hope to get a fair trial in Boston, the scene of the bombing.
Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan sparked five days of panic in Boston beginning on April 15, 2013, when they detonated two homemade pressure cooker bombs at the marathon's finish line and then tried to flee the city.
Tamerlan subsequently died in a shootout with police.
Newsmax's Jeffrey Rubin contributed to this report.
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