# Tsarnaev Sentenced to Death: How Long? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 15, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsarnaev-sentenced-to-death-how-long/720142 "2015-05-15T23:53:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsarnaev-sentenced-to-death-how-long/720142/21 "2015-05-17T04:31:31Z")
The death penalty is wrong, always and everywhere, and a siutable punishment would be to let him stew in despair for sixty or seventy years. But the answer to the “how long” part of the question in the thread title is: “forever.” He will be dead forever. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsarnaev-sentenced-to-death-how-long/720142/22 "2015-05-17T04:39:19Z")
> [@txswimdad](#): > > IIRC, McVeigh waved his appeals. \*Wa\*\*I \*\*\*ved. Get it right. I am sick of dropping in to spend some time with the smartest, hippest people on the Internet and reading about people “waving appeals” and “waiving flags.” ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsarnaev-sentenced-to-death-how-long/720142/23 "2015-05-17T05:31:37Z")
Ah, they could just park him in general population in a max security federal prison. He’d probably shoot his mouth off to the wrong inmate and some lifer who already has 3 life sentences against him will resolve this issue in his own manner. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsarnaev-sentenced-to-death-how-long/720142/24 "2015-05-17T06:17:28Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > He is a muslim, it is silly to facilitate his journey to glory and many virgins. He should spend 60 long years staring at bars and stone walls, that would be a much more severe punishment. And if he goes to Heaven as an 80-year-old soul, what use would he have for those 72 virgins anyway? (And would they be 80-year-old souls too?) ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsarnaev-sentenced-to-death-how-long/720142/25 "2015-05-17T14:38:31Z")
> [@simster](#): > > I don’t care how long it takes - or if it never happens - its still the appropriate sentence for the crimes committed… The drawback to that is that at every stage of the appeal process he will be back in the news and the families of the victims will likely be brought back into the spotlight. Far better to let him rot in a Supermax for the rest of his miserable existence. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsarnaev-sentenced-to-death-how-long/720142/26 "2015-05-17T19:08:59Z")
[Not any time soon](http://www.businessinsider.com/boston-bomber-wont-be-put-to-death-anytime-soon-due-to-federal-moratorium-on-executions-2015-5). > [@](#): > > “The Justice Department is continuing its review of the federal protocol used by the Bureau of Prisons as well as policy issues related to the death penalty, and we have, in effect, a moratorium in place on federal executions in the meantime.” > [@](#): > > In addition, any execution is likely to be delayed due to a lengthy appeals process in such cases. Of the 80 federal death sentences handed down since 1988, only three, including Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, have actually been executed. So, a little better than one execution per decade. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsarnaev-sentenced-to-death-how-long/720142/27 "2015-06-18T23:26:37Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > \*Wa\*\*I \*\*\*ved. Get it right. > > I am sick of dropping in to spend some time with the smartest, hippest people on the Internet and reading about people “waving appeals” and “waiving flags.” I think that you need to rain in the snark! ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsarnaev-sentenced-to-death-how-long/720142/28 "2015-06-20T23:46:30Z")
I also wonder why death penalty appeals are so glacially slow. Okay, so Tsarnaev has two issues to appeal. He has an appeal of right to the First Circuit. He loses. The Supreme Court has discretionary review; they probably wouldn’t grant cert. Then he has one (and only one) habeas in federal district court, and an appeal of right in the First Circuit (again). Possibly a discretionary cert at the U.S. Supreme Court. Then he is done. That’s it. Assuming everything is upheld, why does the process take 20 years? Why does it even take two years? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2015, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsarnaev-sentenced-to-death-how-long/720142/29 "2015-06-21T01:47:45Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > \*Wa\*\*I \*\*\*ved. Get it right. > > I am sick of dropping in to spend some time with the smartest, hippest people on the Internet and reading about people “waving appeals” and “waiving flags.” But … I do waive flags. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsarnaev-sentenced-to-death-how-long/720142.md?page=1)