Solving the Marathon Bomb Mystery, Part 7: So Many Sins

by Mary W Maxwell, LLB

Jonathan Edwards was a famous preacher in Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1741 he preached a sermon entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” He begins it with a quote from Deuteronomy 32:35, “Their foot shall slide in due time.” Edwards’ theory of the fate of the wicked is that “The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God’s mere will, that holds it back.”

I do not relate to that theology. Maybe their foot will slide in due time. But why wait? It seems we have waited a long time for Henry Kissinger’s foot to slide. Better to attend to the problem of evil ourselves. Let’s attend to the Marathon.

The Verdict in 2015: Jahar Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Etc

Dzhokar Tsarnaev was found guilty on each of 30 separate counts by a unanimous jury. As you read the counts, you can say “Guilty” after each one, meaning some human being did do that crime, and it was not the named defendant. Note: I got the following list from abovethelaw.com, which credits @GarrettQuinn from MassLive “for on the spot Tweeting about the verdicts”.

I’ve selected only 6 of the 30 to show here. (Many of the others are repetitive.)

These three refer to the bombing on Boylston St:

COUNT 2: Use of weapon of mass destruction (Pressure Cooker Bomb #2): GUILTY.

COUNT 6: Conspiracy to bomb a place of public use: GUILTY.

COUNT 11: Conspiracy to maliciously destroy property: GUILTY

This one means Jahar killed Sean Collier with a Ruger gun. (Or was with Tamerlan who did it. Or something):

COUNT 16: Used or carried a firearm (Ruger P95 9mm) during and in relation to a crime of violence: GUILTY

This one is the Meng affair (reality no bar):

COUNT 19: Carjacking and aiding and abetting: GUILTY.

This one refers to the shoot-out on Laurel St (again, reality no bar):

COUNT 27: Use of a weapon of mass destruction (Pipe Bomb #2) GUILTY.

In short, some sinner did bomb the Marathon and some other sinner did kill Sean Collier. Whodunnit?

The bombing visibly took place (although conceivably it was only a smoke bomb), and Sean Collier really died (there is an amazing dearth of evidence, but I assume he did die). So apparently we’ve got a few killers out there on the loose.  Perhaps the M’assachusetts governor should order a lockdown until the killers are found!

Other Crimes

I feel sure there was no carjacking and no shoot-out at Laurel St, so no need to pursue any guilty parties for that, but other crimes were committed and should be punished. Let’s discusses seven — the crimes of conspiring, murder, violating a person’s rights by misusing “color of law,” obstruction of justice, treason, misprision, and terrorism.

Note: each of the 50 states has a combination of common law, inherited from Mother England, and statutory law enacted by its legislature – but this article mainly uses federal law, that is, Congress’s statutes. Federal law is easily located online by searching the name of the crime, plus “USC” – for United States Code of law.

Crimes of the Bombing Itself

A bomb qualifies as a weapon of mass destruction — indeed one of the charges of which Jahar was found guilty is “use of a weapon of mass destruction.” This became a federal crime as a result of anti-terrorism law in 1996, which was in turn based on the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

Googling for “USC, mass destruction” brings us to  Cornell Law’s site:

18 U.S. Code § 2332a – Use of weapons of mass destruction

(a) Offense Against a National of the United States or Within the United States. A person who, without lawful authority, uses, threatens, or attempts or conspires to use, a weapon of mass destruction—

(2) against any person or property within the United States, and

(A) the mail or any facility of interstate or foreign commerce is used in furtherance of the offense;

(B) such property is used in interstate or foreign commerce or in an activity that affects interstate or foreign commerce; [plus many items not relevant to our case] … shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, and if death results, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.

The Crime of Conspiring

Prosecutors routinely bring “conspiracy” into the list of charges – for instance, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. Thus, we might not only charge the individual who planted the Marathon bombs, and the individual who detonated them, but all who worked on the plan in conspiratorial fashion.

They set up a patsy — two patsies — Tamerlan and Jahar. This required all manner of conspiring. A major perpetrator of this crime was the MSM, the mainstream media. Of course we can’t indict such an amorphous entity as the MSM. We could look at individual reporters, news editors, corporate directors of TV networks, etc.

They had to have been ready, armed with knowledge in advance, in order that they would say the right things, and not say the wrong things, in their hour-by-hour coverage of April 15 and up to the capture of Jahar. They all deserve a trial.

The Crime of Murder

One person who got murdered in this planned crime is Tamerlan. Another is Sean Collier. There was also the attempted murder of Jahar while he was in the boat. Jahar’s many injuries from the boat routine are listed by the hospital.

They wrote: “Your injuries include:

1- Penetrating injury to the left face with exposed mandible, Superficial foreign body removed from your left eye in trauma bay, Multiple facial bone fractures, Complex temporal bone fracture with disruption of a middle ear and ossicles, Left proximal facial nerve injury, CI transverse process injury, Superficial anterior neck wound, Shattered right scapula, Penetrating wound to left wrist, Right medial thigh penetrating injury, Penetrating wound of the right lower extremity, Left lower extremity open wound, Left external auditory canal, Left middle ear injury.”

I list the crime as “attempted murder” as it looks to me that Jahar was not meant to survive. But I don’t really know that. We can subpoena the FBI and find out.

The Crime of Violence under Color of Law

The harm done to Jahar, boatside, qualifies as violence under color of law. The law at 42 USC 1983 makes it possible for a person to sue in cases of police brutality, that is, bring a civil action (as I mentioned re Tamerlan’s child Zahara). The same law also enables government to prosecute.

The point of “color of law” is that a person wearing a government badge has much greater opportunity to do harm than does your basic thug. It is understood that people stand back and let a cop do what he wants. Normally, police have immunity regarding their handling of a suspect, but Congress realized that there are times when the immunity should not apply. Hence 42 USC 1983.

States may have similar provisions. An interesting Massachusetts case, Cronin v. Town of Amesbury, led to the rule that a “cop” acting for personal interest – not in the line of duty – is NOT acting under color of law.  This was affirmed at appeal by the 1^st Circuit in 1995. Think about that. – he’s not immune.

What of the rounding up of Jahar’s friends, including Cabbie Matanov – in order that they be prevented from defending the accused. i.e., the patsy? This falls under obstruction of justice, but since they were in uniform their rough behaviour, done to intimidate, could well fit under 42 USC 1983. Thank you, Congress.

The Crime of Obstruction of Justice

Gumshoe has published dozens of articles by two Canadians, Cheryl Dean and José Lépine, and by myself, as to the criminal behaviour of the attorneys and the federal judge in US v Tsarnaev. I won’t repeat all those charges here. They include tampering with witnesses, with jurors, and the subornation of perjury. Wow.

What about the ones who engaged in photo-shopping? Was that aiding-and-abetting, or cover-up? I have no prosecutorial experience, so I am not sure. The crime of cover-up is within the concept of obstruction of justice.

Note: those who filmed actors in the Shell shop buying snacks may have actually done this after April 2013 – Dun Meng’s story did not get fleshed out for a while. At this point the “artists” would have known that someone in prison had something to do with being accused of the carjacking. Ba-ad.

Others who engaged in obstruction of justice include doctors and hospital administrators who lied, and any victims who perjured themselves in court or who simply made false statements in public. Not to mention all the cops who told elaborate lies about a shootout on Laurel St. Poor cops. They really should pay attention to the law.

The Crime of Treason

The US federal crime of treason is strict because it was taken straight from the Constitution, Article III, section 3. So at 18 USC 2381 we find:

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years….

The phrase “owing allegiance” means any US citizen and probably any permanent resident of the US.  The phrase “levying war” probably includes any act of violence committed against the government or against the population.

I say “probably includes” as there are almost no court cases to look to for helpful jurisprudence. Prosecutors have largely turned a blind eye to treason. We all know why, don’t we. John Harington (d 1612) put it succinctly in a rhyme:

“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”

In my 2011 book, Prosecution for Treason, I make the case that any Congressperson who signs legislation that violates the Constitution thereby commits treason. In my 2015 book Fraud Upon the Court, I say that any judge (judges normally have absolute immunity for their rulings) who “levies war against the people” by making unconstitutional law commits treason. (Obviously – Article III, section 3 says so!)

Further, a judge who knowingly condemns an innocent person to death commits treason. I say all the Supreme Court judges who were sitting in September 2011 are traitors, in regard to the execution of Troy Davis.

I believe Jahar’s Boston judge is likewise, although the situation can still be rectified as Jahar is still alive.

The Crime of Misprision

It is wonderful to know that you can be punished for not dobbing. (“To dob” is Australian for “to tattle.”). The name of the crime is misprision. Even if you know merely of a felony, you are obliged to tell. So says 18 USC 4:

“Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”

Moreover, there is a specific law against misprision of treason. So you’d better watch out, Americans, or I’ll dob you all in for committing it.

18 USC 2382

“Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States and having knowledge of the commission of any treason against them, conceals and does not, as soon as may be, disclose and make known the same to the President or to some judge of the United States, or to the governor or to some judge or justice of a particular State, is guilty of misprision of treason and shall be fined or imprisoned not more than seven years, or both.”  [Yay.]

The Crime of Terrorism

The amazing hyping of the Marathon case was based on its being an act of terrorism. It certainly was an act done by terrorists, probably for the purpose of terrifying the population.

Is there a law against it? I’d like the reader to get the hang of how easy it is to find the law by typing “USC, terrorism.”  So I won’t quote it here. But if you search you won’t be disappointed.

Whenever we get around to realizing that no one is above the law in the US (in Australia, the monarch is above the law), we can start indicting the terrorists who did the Marathon bombing. And then the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Won’t that be a ball!

–Mary Maxwell awaits her fate for writing this stuff. Note: she has added a codicil to her will to include generous donations of Tang for forthcoming space travelers.