Intersect

FPSY 6102 Cases for Final Project

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was 19 years old when he and his older brother planned and committed the bombing of the finish line at the Boston Marathon in April 2013. Three people were killed in the blast that seriously injured many others. According to FBI records, Dzhokhar’s older brother was killed by police while fleeing the crime scene, but Dzhokhar was eventually convicted of the following charges in May 2015: the use of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death and conspiracy, bombing of a place of public use resulting in death and conspiracy, malicious destruction of property resulting in death and conspiracy, use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence causing death, carjacking resulting in serious bodily injury, and interference with commerce by threats of violence. He received the death penalty following his conviction and is currently in prison pending appeal.

According to the BBC (2016), Dzhokhar and his family immigrated to the United States in 2002 from Chechnya. In the 1990s, the family initially fled to Kyrgyzstan, a troubled neighboring country of Chechnya, and Dzhokhar was believed to have been born there in 1994. After the second war broke out in Chechnya in 1999, the family started to make their way to the United States where they arrived in 2002. Dzhokhar become a U.S. citizen in 2012.

The Tsarnaev family settled in the Boston area. At the time of the bombing, Dzokhar was allegedly a second-year medical student at the University of Massachusetts. According to his Facebook page, he was devoted to Islam. Friends of his at the University of Massachusetts were surprised at his involvement in the Boston Marathon bombing (BBC, 2016).

Elizabeth Smart

In 2002, according to Bio (2016), 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped at knife point from the bedroom she shared with her sister in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her captor, Brian Mitchell, and his accomplice, Wanda Barzee, held her captive for 9 months, moving between California and Utah. Mitchell raped her daily, often multiple times a day, and she was frequently tethered to a tree. She was force fed alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs and frequently deprived of food. Brian Mitchell fancied himself to be a prophet and provided Elizabeth with an ongoing tirade of often bizarre religious indoctrinations.

Elizabeth’s younger sister provided police with information that her abductor looked like a man who had worked as a handyman at the family’s home several months prior. Based on this tip, the police identified Brian Mitchell, and the abduction was presented on America’s Most Wanted in February 2003. The following month, someone recognized Mitchell walking with Elizabeth, who was veiled and was in a wig and sunglasses, and called in a tip to the police. Mitchell was arrested and eventually prosecuted. Elizabeth was able to return to her family (Bio, 2016).

Jodi Arias

Jodi Arias brutally murdered her boyfriend in 2008 in his Mesa, Arizona, home. The 28-year-old slit her boyfriend’s throat, stabbed him over two dozen times, and shot him in the head. Following the murder, Jodi initially denied any involvement, but police investigators found her DNA at the crime scene, and she was charged with the murder within a month. Initially, she told police that masked men had broken into her boyfriend’s home while she was there, attacked them both, killing her boyfriend, and then decided to allow her to live (Bio, 2016). Later, she admitted killing her boyfriend but explained that she had done so in self-defense due to ongoing physical abuse by him.

According to Bio (2016), Jodi’s 4-month trial began in January 2013 and was aired live to the public. She testified for 18 days in her own defense. The jury convicted her of first-degree murder but was unable to come to an agreement about her sentencing. Finally, in April 2015, after two deadlocked juries, she was sentenced to life in prison and escaped the death penalty.

During Jodi’s 18 days of testimony, she explained to the jury that her boyfriend had been emotionally and physically abusive to her (Pelisek, 2013). According to her, he vacillated between forcing her to have aggressive sex and then ignoring her, punishing her with emotional aloofness. She shared pictures and text messages to support her claims with the jury. In the end, the jury convicted her despite her claims.

References

Bio. (2016). Elizabeth Smart biography. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/elizabeth-smart-17176406

Bio. (2016). Jodi Arias biography. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/jodi-arias-21221959

British Broadcasting Company (BBC). (2015). Profile: Who is Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev? Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-31734557

Pelisek, C. (2013). Court report: Jodi Arias’s baffling defense strategy. The Daily Beast. Retrieved from http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/17/jodi-arias-s-baffling-defense-strategy.html

U.S. Department of Justice. (2015). Judge imposes death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/boston/press-releases/2015/judge-imposes-death-sentence-for-boston-marathon-bomber