The Retrial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

A terrorist attack from Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev on April 15th,
2013, during the Boston Marathon, resulted in three lives lost and wounded
more than 260 people. On December 19th, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will go to a
three-judge federal appellate panel to state that he didn’t get a fair trial back
in 2015. He is currently on death row, but his lawyers are arguing that Judge
O’Toole was not fair and the jury was not bias-free. Along with this, they are
stating that the trial was in Boston, while most trials like this try to do it in
a different place in the US. Two people who were part of the jury were on
twitter, where their friends were encouraging them to “send Tsarnaev to jail
where he will be taken care of.” Lawyers are stating that since the people on
the jury didn’t mention any of this, they weren’t being truthful, and had a
clear bias. They will also question the fairness of O’Toole, Gertner says,
"Instead of asking the specific question about what people knew about the
case [O’Toole] asked the most general: 'Have you heard about this case?' kind
of question." O’Toole also encouraged that the trial be in Boston. Overall,
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is hoping that this evidence will be
enough to get rid of his death penalty.

Do you think the death penalty should be inacted on anyone?

Do you agree with Judge O’Toole’s decisions? Why or why not?

Do you think there should be another trial?

Do you think another trial would result in a different outcome?

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/12/786685166/attorneys-for-boston-marathon-bomber-to-appeals-judges-trial-was-not-fair

Massachusetts Hand-Free Driving Legislation

            Governor Charlie Baker has made a public announcement that in the Spring of 2020, there will be a new law implemented. Currently Massachusetts has a no texting while driving law but still permits holding your phone to talk. It is a secondary offense to be caught texting when driving, meaning you need to have committed another offense to get a ticket. When the legislation is launched, texting and driving will become a primary offense, which means you can get a ticket for just that. This new law is designed to keep the hands of drivers off their electronics, and instead on their steering wheel. “When a driver on an electronic device hits something or someone, that’s not an accident,” Governor Baker states during a signing ceremony in November 2019, “It’s a crash that was avoidable”. Governor Baker is trying to make the point that all of these fatal car accidents that have happened, was simply because of the driver’s lack of self-awareness. The only devices that may be used in these cars, are “hand-free” modes - such as Bluetooth. Although it is very restrictive, under this law, drivers will only be able to use their phones when stationary. This means that drivers can look down at their phones when parked, or at a red light. Fines start at $100 the first time, a second pullover results in a $250 penalty, and $500 dollars is billed for any offenses that follow. However, the legislation doesn’t take full effect until February 23 of 2020, and from there, police officers will only issue warnings for violation until March 31. Fines start being dealt on April 1. Studies show that the amount of people that get pulled over varies based on their race, age, and gender. There is controversy over this because it is possible that this difference in statistics ties in with racism, sexism, and ageism. This law could forever change the safety of drivers and pedestrians in Massachusetts and hopefully, all over America.

Discussion Questions:

1)    Do you agree with Governor Baker’s initiative of installing this ban? Why or why not?

2)    Do your parents look at their phones when driving? If so, do you ever tell them to put their phones down?

3)    Should this legislation be implemented in other states? Why or why not?

4)    How will drivers who are used to texting when driving, react to this law? Why?

https://www.boston.com/cars/car-news/2019/11/25/massachusetts-hands-free-driving-law-charlie-baker