An in-depth study of the court case United States v. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Heather and Tom Frizzell discuss the July 31, 2020 First Circuit Court decision to overturn Dzhokhar "Jahar" Tsarnaev's death sentence. We talk about the issues the defense won on, as well as the four biggest takeaways from the decision.
Tom “Attorney Dad” Frizzell joins Heather for a legal breakdown of Dzhokhar “Jahar” Tsarnaev’s December 2019 appeal hearing.
In this three-part podcast miniseries, Heather is joined by Tom "Attorney Dad" Frizzell in a bit of a role reversal. Tom plays host and invites Heather to share what she learned in her Master's program in International Studies at the University of Washington. She discusses how writing her academic thesis on Dzhokhar "Jahar" Tsarnaev's case helped her better understand not just the Boston Marathon bombing, but the War on Terror, American foreign policy, and systemic discrimination against Muslims.
Heather is joined by Tom "Attorney Dad" Frizzell and resident historian Eric Bowsfield to discuss their initial impressions on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's opening appellate brief. Then they take a deep dive into Dzhokhar's suppressed hospital confession, the contents of which were kept from the public until October 2018, when they were unsealed by Dzhokhar's appellate team. They look at what's there, what isn't, and the likelihood that the entire narrative of this case was created by overzealous FBI agents illegally interrogating a critically injured teenager.
What is an alibi defense, and does Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have one in regards to the charges for which he was convicted?
Historian and fellow investigator Eric Bowsfield joins Heather to talk about historiography. We discuss how the discipline gives us the tools to study the Marathon Bombing and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's court case as a historical event.
Attorney Tom Frizzell returns to dive into submitted questions about the Boston Marathon bombing and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's case. He and Heather sink their teeth into constitutional law as they tackle the impact the case has had on the American legal system, and discuss how many times Dzhokhar may have had his constitutional rights violated.
Heather tackles some “alternative facts” about the note found in the boat after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's capture. Then attorney Tom Frizzell returns to finish up our discussion about the narratives presented about the case in court: what we do and don’t believe, our current theories about the events in question, and what can be expected for Dzhokhar’s case on appeal.
The first episode of the case-related podcast, Marathon, is now available for listen and download.
Thanks to tips from readers, the knit hat mystery is solved, Howie's role in the chain of custody may be clearer, and there is an indication of where the Invisible Person went. Plus, what's coming up next for this blog in 2017.
US v. Tsarnaev 