US Attorney’s office requests Boston Marathon bomber to turn over funds, including $1,400 stimulus payment
(CNN)Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should turn over money to his victims, including a previously deposited $1,400 federal stimulus payment, the US Attorney’s Office of Massachusetts said in a filing Wednesday morning.
The filing is requesting the Federal Bureau of Prisons to turn over funds from Tsarnaev’s inmate trust account. Tsarnaev is currently serving a life sentence in a federal prison in Florence, Colorado.
Despite having more than $21,000 transferred to his account since 2013, prosecutors said Tsarnaev has only paid a little over $2,000 toward restitution.
Of the $21,000 transferred to Tsarnaev’s account, most were made by attorneys or individuals, but also includes a $1,400 stimulus payment from June 2021, the filing says. As of December 22, 2021, prosecutors said he had approximately $3,885 in his inmate trust account.
“For privacy, safety, and security reasons, the Bureau of Prisons does not comment on individual inmate’s conditions of confinement, pending litigation, or matters that are the subject of legal proceedings,” the agency told CNN.
CNN has reached out to Tsarnaev’s attorneys for comment.
Tsarnaev owes $3,000 for a special assessment and $101,126,627 in criminal restitution, filings show. Four were killed and hundreds were injured after Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan set off two shrapnel bombs near the Boston Marathon finish line in 2013.
Prosecutors say while Tsarnaev has only paid around $2,000 toward the money owed, he’s given money from his account to “other third-parties.” The largest amount was given to his siblings for items such as gifts, “support” and books, totaling around $2,000, they continued.
“The United States submits that the requested relief is reasonable and appropriate in this instance, especially in light of the Defendant prioritizing payments to his siblings over the victims of his crimes,” the filing reads.
Tsarnaev also did not inform the court he received these funds, which is required under federal law, according to prosecutors. The filing said the law obligates the defendant to “notify the Court and the United States of any material change in his ‘economic circumstances’ that might affect his ability to pay his restitution obligation.”
In July 2020, a federal appeals court said Tsarnaev would remain in prison for the rest of his life but that he should be given a new penalty-phase trial, citing issues concerning juror selection and pretrial publicity as well as the exclusion of evidence that may have helped his case.
The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals then vacated Tsarnaev’s death penalty with directions to hold a new penalty-phase trial.
In October 2021, the US Supreme Court heard appeals to reinstate Tsarnaev’s death sentence, a case that remains before the court.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/06/us/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-boston-bomber-covid-stimulus/index.html
