Tsarnaev Brothers - Investigation

[CrazyPaul]

Many lawmakers call the judge disgraceful for reading Miranda rights to Dzhokhar.

 

[Jiro]

Source: FBI has interviewed 'Misha' in Boston bombing probe - CNN.com

(CNN) -- The FBI has interviewed "Misha," an elusive figure whose name has surfaced in the Boston bombing probe, a U.S. government official told CNN Monday.

Investigators spoke with the man in Rhode Island, the source said, after reports surfaced suggesting members of the suspected bombers' family blame a "Misha" for radicalizing alleged bombing mastermind Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

The man, whose real name is Mikhail Allakhverdov, denies ever encouraging a violent take on Islam, and says he was not Tamerlan's teacher, according to a New York Review of Books writer who says he interviewed "Misha."

"He began telling me he cooperated with the FBI" and had "handed over his computer" and cell phone, reporter Christian Caryl told CNN Monday.

Allakhverdov insisted he had "nothing to do with radicalization," Caryl said.

CNN has made repeated efforts to speak with Allakhverdov, but has so far been unable.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died after a shootout with police; his younger brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar, remains hospitalized with gunshot wounds. He has been charged with using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, as well as one count of malicious destruction of property by means of an explosive device resulting in death.

The double-bombing near the finish line of the Boston Marathon killed three people and wounded more than 260 -- at least 14 of whom have needed amputations, according to medical officials.

Why did Tamerlan go to Russia?

Misha's family 'friendly and welcoming'

Caryl said when he showed up at Misha's home, he took the family by surprise, but managed to spend some time with him.

"I wasn't his teacher. If I had been his teacher, I would have made sure he never did anything like this," Allakhverdov said, according to Caryl's report.

"A thirty-nine-year-old man of Armenian-Ukrainian descent, Allakhverdov is of medium height and has a thin, reddish-blond beard," Caryl wrote. "When I arrived he was wearing a green and white short-sleeve football jersey and pajama pants. Along with his parents, his American girlfriend was there, and we sat together in a tiny living room that abuts the family kitchen."

He added, "In many ways, Allakhverdov's parents seem typical former-Soviet émigrés who had embraced middle class life in the United States. His father is an Armenian Christian and his mother is an ethnic Ukrainian."

In the article, Allakhverdov's father is quoted as saying, "We love this country. We never expected anything like this to happen to us."

'Brainwashed him completely'

Ruslan Tsarni, Tamerlan's uncle, told CNN last week that a friend of his nephew "just took his brain. He just brainwashed him completely."

After The Associated Press said members of Tsanaev's family identified the friend as Misha, Tsarnaev's former brother-in-law told CNN that Tsarnaev had a friend by that name. Elmirza Khozhgov said the friend apparently "had influence on Tamerlan." But Khozhgov said he did not see Misha try to radicalize Tsarnaev.

Sources: Russian forces kill two jihadists

Investigators are looking into whether Tsarnaev was influenced toward radicalization during a six-month visit to Dagestan in 2012 -- a region known to include radical jihadists who have battled the Russian government.

Russian special forces killed two members of a jihadist group in an early morning raid this weekend in the semiautonomous republic, two Russian police sources told CNN on Monday.

Authorities have not said whether the raid was linked to the Boston bombing.

But one of those killed was an associate of Abu Dujan, the slain leader of a militant Islamist organization that produced at least one video that Tamerlan apparently posted and later removed from a social media account, according to an analysis by CNN and the SITE Intelligence Group.

Photos: Galleries from the attack and aftermath

'Jihad' discussed in wiretapped phone call

Russian authorities intercepted a phone call in early 2011 from one of the Tsarnaev brothers in the United States to their mother in Dagestan, an official with knowledge of the investigation told CNN over the weekend.

The wiretapped communication discussed jihad, but the conversation was vague, two U.S. officials said. It's unclear why the Russians were eavesdropping on the mother or for how long.

CNN has previously reported that the FBI conducted an investigation -- including an interview with Tamerlan Tsarnaev -- after Russia expressed concerns in 2011.

The Russians also raised questions about Tsarnaev's mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, according to several sources. Her name was subsequently added to a terrorism database along with her son's, an intelligence official said last week.

The FBI said at the time that it found nothing to justify further investigation and that Russia did not respond to U.S. requests for more information. The case was closed after several months.

One of the officials declined to say whether the information from the wiretapped phone call would have made a difference in uncovering plans for a future attack on the U.S.

However, CNN contributor Tom Fuentes said the FBI would have found that information helpful after Russian officials asked the agency to look at Tamerlan Tsarnaev for signs of a possible shift toward increasing Islamic extremism.

Suspect's vows to travel to U.S. if she can see her son

On Monday, Zubeidat Tsarnaev told CNN's Nick Paton Walsh that she plans to come to the United States if she can see her son, despite pending shoplifting charges against her in Massachusetts.

Suspects' mother describes her last conversation with her sons

Dzhokhar is at Federal Medical Center Devens, about 40 miles west of Boston. Authorities moved him there last week from Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

He had what appeared to be gunshot wounds to his head, neck, legs and hand when he was captured on April 19 after a nearly 24-hour manhunt, according to the criminal complaint accusing him in the marathon blasts.

He is able to speak and has been interacting with staff, a prison spokesman said.

Bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's new cell

He has, however, apparently been less talkative since authorities read him his Miranda rights three days after his capture.

But the information gained from two sessions of questioning has produced good leads, a U.S. law enforcement official said. He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction.

 

[Beowulf]

What should they have done?

Oh boy, what a loaded question! Let me answer it by asking a question: what do you think we can afford? Boston is the cradle of the Constitution, the document that makes the USA a unique nation in the world. Can we afford to ignore it in times of crises, to suspend it? Can we afford the police to search our homes without consent? Sure, there may be a few more casualties if people refused to let the police enter their homes without consent, but think of the ultimate cost if we allow the police to force themselves into anywhere they want.

 

[Reba]

Oh boy, what a loaded question! Let me answer it by asking a question: what do you think we can afford? Boston is the cradle of the Constitution, the document that makes the USA a unique nation in the world.

Actually, it was Philadelphia but I get what you mean. Boston was an important place in the early days of our Revolution.

Can we afford to ignore it in times of crises, to suspend it? Can we afford the police to search our homes without consent? Sure, there may be a few more casualties if people refused to let the police enter their homes without consent, but think of the ultimate cost if we allow the police to force themselves into anywhere they want.

I didn't mean for the question to be loaded. I wanted a practical answer. In what way should the manhunt for the terrorists have been conducted? What should the authorities have done differently?

 

[Beowulf]

Actually, it was Philadelphia but I get what you mean. Boston was an important place in the early days of our Revolution.


I didn't mean for the question to be loaded. I wanted a practical answer. In what way should the manhunt for the terrorists have been conducted? What should the authorities have done differently?

A delicate question. They should have gone by the book. There certainly was no need for Humvees mounted with machine guns...

 

[Reba]

A delicate question. They should have gone by the book. There certainly was no need for Humvees mounted with machine guns...

Some terrorist groups have heavy fire power. The police didn't know what they might come across.

Let's hope they don't need to do this again.

 

[TXgolfer]

A delicate question. They should have gone by the book. There certainly was no need for Humvees mounted with machine guns...

I actually agree with you on the home searches.

I disagree with you on the gear used. I think you are looking at the pictures and seeing weapons of "offense" but in this case I believe the equipment was strictly for protection.

 

[whatdidyousay!]

I actually agree with you on the home searches.

I disagree with you on the gear used. I think you are looking at the pictures and seeing weapons of "offense" but in this case I believe the equipment was strictly for protection.

The terrorists had bombs and people homes where searches to made sure the terrorists was not in any house with bomb. People had to leave their homes and the younger brother could had planted bombs in houses when no one there. The cops and FBI had no idea how many people where involved in the bombing , they did what they felt was necessary to keep people safe. It is easy for people to say the home searches where not necessary if this did not happen in their city.

 

[TXgolfer]

The terrorists had bombs and people homes where searches to made sure the terrorists was not in any house with bomb. People had to leave their homes and the younger brother could had planted bombs in houses when no one there. The cops and FBI had no idea how many people where involved in the bombing , they did what they felt was necessary to keep people safe. It is easy for people to say the home searches where not necessary if this did not happen in their city.

I didn't say the searches were not necessary. We are discussing constitutionality.

 

[Reba]

Legal team selected

One lawyer won acquittal for a Saudi man charged with carrying three firecracker-like devices on a plane, arguing he was a victim of hysteria over airport security after the Sept. 11 attacks. Another has managed to avert death sentences for some of the highest-profile criminals of our time, including the Unabomber and the gunman whose rampage injured former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Together, they are staring down what may become their biggest challenge so far: how to defend the man authorities say helped plan and carry out the Boston Marathon bombings, an attack that killed three people, injured more than 260 and virtually shut down the city during an intense manhunt.

The team that will be led by Miriam Conrad, the chief federal public defender for Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, got a major boost Monday with the addition of prominent San Diego lawyer and death penalty opponent Judy Clarke. Not that Conrad is considered any slouch.

"She is as tenacious as they come," said Joshua Levy, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Boston who has gone up against Conrad in federal court. "I always found her to be very smart and focused on whatever she perceived as chinks in the armor in the government's case. She would zone in on that."

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill, a crime that carries a potential death sentence. He lies in a prison hospital after being wounded in a shootout with police as he and his brother made a getaway attempt. Tamerlan Tsarneav, 26, was killed.

Conrad is preparing for what's expected to be a long and complicated legal process. Although federal law entitles to at least one lawyer with experience in death penalty cases, Conrad asked for two.

She got Clarke but was denied a second — David Bruck, a professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law. He has directed the school's death penalty defense clinic since 2004.

The suspect's lawyers could renew their motion to appoint another death penalty expert if he is indicted, the judge said. That's when prosecutors could add new charges. Prosecutors have 30 days to indict him.

Northampton, Mass., lawyer David Hoose described Clarke as "simply the best."

"She has an ability to relate to people who are charged with these horrific, horrific crimes and to humanize them, to portray them as human beings to the government and to a jury," said Hoose, who has represented several people accused of capital crimes, including Kristen Gilbert, a former veterans hospital nurse who killed four patients by overdosing them with medicine. Gilbert was spared the death penalty.

Conrad, 56, is among three federal defenders in her office who will represent Tsarnaev and would not talk about how she will defend him. Lawyers who have handled capital cases say the team's first priority will likely be to persuade prosecutors to take the death penalty off the table.

Tamar Birckhead, a former federal public defender who represented shoe bomber Richard Reid, said the public safety exception cited by authorities allows investigators to question a suspect on a focused and limited basis when police or the public may be in immediate danger.

"It seems inevitable if the case is going to be litigated and not resolved in a negotiated plea, then (Conrad) will bring a motion to suppress and try to argue that the government went beyond the public safety exception or didn't craft questions that were limited enough to fit within that exception," said Birckhead, now an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.

"Then they'll see what a judge decides," she said.

Experts say Conrad is also almost certain to try to suppress statements Tsarnaev allegedly made to investigators before he was advised of his constitutional right to remain silent and seek a lawyer.

Tsarnaev admitted his role in the bombings, saying that he and his brother were angry about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of Muslims there, officials said.

Conrad has spent her entire legal career as a public defender, first for the state, and for the past 21 years as a federal defender. Before going to Harvard Law School, she worked for the Kansas City Times and as a crime reporter for The Miami Herald.

In court, Conrad is aggressive and feisty without being histrionic. Prosecutors who have gone up against her say she is a fierce advocate who takes advantage of any missteps by her opponents. Judges also respect her.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Smith recalled attending a seminar several years ago when a panel of judges was asked by a lawyer how he should handle himself in federal court.

"One of the judges said, 'Do what Miriam does. Watch Miriam; do what she does,'" Smith said.

She won an acquittal in 2004 for a Saudi biomedical engineer who was charged after three sparklers were found in his luggage at Boston's Logan Airport. She argued he didn't realize the sparklers were in his luggage. After he was acquitted, Conrad questioned why the case wasn't resolved by Customs agents.

"Knowing how credible he is, I wonder why it didn't stop there," she said. "This guy is no more a terrorist than Pope John Paul."

In the case of Rezwan Ferdaus, a Massachusetts man accused of plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol and Pentagon with remote-controlled model planes, Conrad suggested his plot was just a fantasy fueled by mental health problems. Ferdaus received a 17-year sentence after pleading guilty to attempting to provide material support to terrorists and other charges.

In a 2006 interview with Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Conrad said she does not see her clients in one-dimensional terms.

"From a personal standpoint, I would say that there are very few clients I have had who I didn't like," she said.

"If you scratch the surface, many have had difficult lives, and, as their lawyer, I sort of see them whole — not just as a person charged with a crime," she said. "No one has ever stood up for them, and that is a very powerful, emotional thing," she said.

Clarke's clients have included the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski; Susan Smith, who drowned her two children; Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph; and most recently Tucson, Ariz., shooter Jared Loughner. All received life sentences instead of the death penalty.

Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz said Clarke understands the divide among Americans over the death penalty, with some opposed to it, others generally supportive of it, and still others who want to see it reserved for only the worst cases.

"She knows how to use those attitudinal differences in the interests of her clients," he said.

Clarke has rarely spoken publicly about her work and did not return a call seeking comment Monday. However, at a speech Friday at a legal conference in Los Angeles, she talked about how she had been "sucked into the black hole, the vortex" of death penalty cases 18 years ago when she represented Smith.

"I got a dose of understanding human behavior, and I learned what the death penalty does to us," she said. "I don't think it's a secret that I oppose the death penalty."

Read more: Boston suspect's defense team gets major boost with lawyer who defended Unabomber, Loughner | Fox News

Also, guess who pays for this high power defense team?

 

[Lau2046]

Also, guess who pays for this high power defense team?

That's why we should have shot him like his brother and save everyone money...it's a win-win situation all around.

 

[CrazyPaul]

yea that's what happens when you've got a camera shoved at your face with entire nation watching you.

Are you making a confirmation? I don't think so.

 

[Jiro]

Are you making a confirmation? I don't think so.

neither are you.

 

[Lau2046]

I think this thread is getting a tad off track with everyone making personal comments. The gentleman with the boat, hard as it may seem to people, actually wanted to do whatever he could to help the victims and the people of Boston...and it's behavior that we've come to expect. That same spirit of wanting to help people was there too on 9/11 in Boston, NY and DC, on or off camera.

Speaking of which, although I've no idea why the Hell the Yanks chose "Sweet Caroline" before the game as a Boston tribute (what does this song have to do with Boston or the terrorist event?) Neil Diamond donated all the proceeds from that song for the victims. Another class act, on or off camera...

 

[Reba]

...Speaking of which, although I've no idea why the Hell the Yanks chose "Sweet Caroline" before the game as a Boston tribute (what does this song have to do with Boston or the terrorist event?) Neil Diamond donated all the proceeds from that song for the victims. Another class act, on or off camera...

According to wiki.answers:

"According to a Boston Globe article ("'Sweet Caroline' revealed", November 21, 2007), the song was originally played by the Red Sox in 1998 to honor an employee who had named her child Caroline. It was popular with fans, so a tradition was born. The song has been played at every home game since 2003."

Neil Diamond originally wrote the song in 1969, inspired by little Caroline Kennedy.

 

[Lau2046]

According to wiki.answers:

"According to a Boston Globe article ("'Sweet Caroline' revealed", November 21, 2007), the song was originally played by the Red Sox in 1998 to honor an employee who had named her child Caroline. It was popular with fans, so a tradition was born. The song has been played at every home game since 2003."

Neil Diamond originally wrote the song in 1969, inspired by little Caroline Kennedy.

Diamond, a New Yorker...I wasn't the only one lost...radio stations across the board were asking "What the Hell were they thinking with that song?" It didn't seem appropriate or fitting...and I feel many people would have preferred a moment of respectful silence...but it was a nice gesture...

 

[Reba]

Diamond, a New Yorker...I wasn't the only one lost...radio stations across the board were asking "What the Hell were they thinking with that song?" It didn't seem appropriate or fitting...and I feel many people would have preferred a moment of respectful silence...but it was a nice gesture...

I guess the Boston people saw it as a song of support for Boston, which is home of the Red Sox.

 

[Lau2046]

I guess the Boston people saw it as a song of support for Boston, which is home of the Red Sox.

Well, the New Yorkers did. I never saw it that way myself. The moment of silence would have seemed more fitting.

 

[Reba]

Well, the New Yorkers did. I never saw it that way myself. The moment of silence would have seemed more fitting.

I thought they did both.

 

[Jiro]

Here's the latest on the Boston Marathon bombings - CNN.com

Boston (CNN) -- Two weeks after twin blasts near the Boston Marathon's finish line, the story continues to develop -- including new insights and movement on the investigation, the victims and more.

New developments:

-- Lawyers for the widow of the dead Boston Marathon bombing suspect said Tuesday evening that "we have just been informed that the Massachusetts Medical Examiner's Office is prepared to release the remains of Tamerlan Tsarnaev." But as of that time, his remains had not been released.

-- When the body is released, Katherine Russell wants it to go to her in-laws -- not her -- her attorneys said in a statement.

-- Russell has spent "many hours over the past week" with law enforcement officials and will continue to cooperate with them as they investigate the Boston attacks, her lawyers said.

Previously reported developments:

-- Investigators have discovered at least one fingerprint among the Boston bomb debris, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation tells CNN. There have been no matches yet, the official said.

-- The FBI -- which investigated Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older of the two suspects, in 2011 after Russia raised concerns about him -- "not only investigated the older brother, they interviewed the older brother," President Barack Obama said. The agency concluded that there were no signs Tamerlan Tsarnaev "was engaging in extremist activity."

"Based on what I've seen so far, the FBI performed its duties, the Department of Homeland Security did what it was supposed to be doing," Obama said.

-- Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, continued his sharp criticism of the Obama administration after the president's remarks, calling it and the intelligence community's handling of "an example of a pre-9/11 stovepiping mentality."

"In Boston, both the FBI and CIA were warned by the Russians about a radical Islamist in our midst," Graham said. "Once enrolled in the system as a potential terror suspect, the older brother was able to travel back to Russia unimpeded by (Department of Homeland Security) or any of our intelligence agencies. Agencies under your control were unable to coordinate the information they received on the Boston terrorists."

-- Obama said Russian authorities "have been very cooperative with us since the Boston bombing," adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin has "committed to working with me ... (to ensure) that those who report to us are cooperating fully, not only in this investigation ... but (on) counterterrorism issues directly."

"Obviously, old habits die hard," Obama said. "There's still suspicions sometimes between our intelligence and law enforcement agencies that date back in some cases 10, 20, 30 years, to the Cold War."

-- The Intelligence Community inspector general, a watchdog that investigates risks, vulnerabilities and deficiencies within 16 intelligence-related agencies and departments across the government, will lead a review of how the government handled its investigation of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died after a gunfight with police days after the Boston attack. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper believes that all of the agencies involved in collecting and sharing information about Tsarnaev "took all the appropriate steps," says Clapper spokesman Shawn Turner, but nonetheless believes an independent review is prudent.

-- Some very preliminary talks have been under way "for the past few days" to potentially allow Boston bomb suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to resume providing investigators with information about the attacks in exchange for having the death penalty taken off the table, two government sources say.

Communications are in the very early stages, and not a sign lawyers for either side are ready to make a deal, said one source, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the private discussions. A Justice Department official said it is not accurate to suggest there are negotiations.

-- Of the more 260 people injured in the marathon bombing, 20 remained hospitalized Tuesday, according to a CNN tally. None of the patients is in critical condition.

-- More than $30 million has been donated to offset expenses for the Boston victims, though it's not clear if even that much money will defray a lifetime of new costs and expenses. The American Orthotics & Prosthetic Association, a national trade association, announced Tuesday that it would create a coalition to help victims who have insufficient insurance coverage cover their initial costs.

-- A spokesman for the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Tuesday that Tamerlan Tsarnaev's cause of death has been determined. "It doesn't become public record until the decedent remains have been released and the death certificate has been filed," said Terrel Harris.

-- Federal agents are looking into possible links between his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev and William Plotnikov, a Canadian boxer-turned-jihadist killed last year by Russian troops, a source briefed on the investigation said Monday.

-- Plotnikov, 23, died in a firefight with Russian forces in the southwestern republic of Dagestan in July 2012, while Tsarnaev was visiting the region, the source said. Plotnikov, who was born in Russia, had moved as a teenager with his family to Canada. Investigators are looking into whether Tsarnaev was radicalized during the six-month visit.

-- Investigators are also looking into whether Tsarnaev had had contact with an 18-year-old militant, Mahmoud Mansur Nidal, who was killed last May by Russian forces during a gun battle in Makhachkala, which is Dagestan's capital and where Tsarnaev's parents live.

-- Investigators on Monday searched the family home of Tsarnaev's widow, Katherine Russell, in Rhode Island. She and her toddler daughter -- Tamerlan's child -- have been staying with her parents at their home in North Kingstown. Agents took items that included DNA samples. Russell has said she had known nothing about her husband's alleged plan.

-- Female DNA was discovered on a fragment of a pressure-cooker bomb used in the attack, and investigators are trying to determine whose genetic material it is, law enforcement sources told CNN. One of the sources said it could be from anyone who had contact with any of the bomb's components and it does not necessarily implicate anyone.

-- FBI agents have interviewed "Misha," whose name has surfaced in the Boston bombing investigation, in Rhode Island, a U.S. government official told CNN on Monday. Investigators spoke with the man after members of the suspected bombers' family blamed a "Misha" for radicalizing Tsarnaev. The man, whose real name is Mikhail Allakhverdov, denies having encouraged a violent take on Islam and denies having taught Tamerlan, according to a New York Review of Books writer who says he interviewed Misha.

-- On Monday, a federal judge appointed lawyer Judy Clarke to represent Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Tamerlan's brother and himself a suspect.

-- After two days of searching a landfill in New Bedford, Massachusetts, investigators have given up trying to find a laptop that could be relevant to the case, a U.S. law enforcement official told CNN on Monday.

-- Russian authorities intercepted a phone call in early 2011 from one of the Tsarnaev brothers in the United States to their mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, in Dagestan, an official with knowledge of the investigation told CNN over the weekend. The wiretapped communication discussed jihad, but the conversation was vague, two U.S. officials said. It was unclear why the Russians were eavesdropping on the mother.

-- On Monday, Zubeidat Tsarnaev told CNN's Nick Paton Walsh that she plans to travel to the United States to see her son, despite pending shoplifting charges against her in Massachusetts.