Boston Marathon bomber files $250K lawsuit over ‘prison conditions’ after guards took his baseball hat

According to Law enforcement today

The man who killed three people using a homemade explosive device at the 2013 Boston Marathon is now suing the federal government for hundreds of thousands of dollars over the confiscation of a baseball cap and limited showers at the prison where he is serving a life sentence.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 26, who was on death row until his death sentence was overturned in July 2020 in an appeal, is suing the federal government for an astounding $250,000, alleging he is being mistreated in prison.

His death sentence was overturned by an appeals court to life in prison over a question about the jury selection. The federal appeals court said that the judge who oversaw the case did not adequately screen jurors for potential biases. That decision has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

As a result of the two homemade pressure-cooker bombs, three people were killed, over 260 were injured, and 17 victims lost limbs on April 15, 2013. Tsarnaev filed a handwritten lawsuit accusing the government of “unlawful, unreasonable, and discriminatory” treatment.

In the suit, Tsarnaev specifically cited correctional officers confiscating a white baseball hat and bandana, which he purchased at the prison commissary. He also cited his limited three showers per week, which he claimed has resulted in a “mental and physical decline.”

Tsarvaev claimed that his hat and bandana were taken “because, by wearing it, I was ‘disrespecting FBI and the victims” who were killed as part of the bombing he carried out with his brother on April 15, 2013.

The hate Tsarnaev chose to wear was white, reminiscent of the hate he was photographed wearing while placing the bombs at the Boston Marathon. As the Associated Press (AP) noted, law enforcement referred to him as “White Hat” during their investigation before learning his name.

The lawsuit has been assigned to a judge, who immediately found it deficient because it lacked the $402 filing fee and a “certified copy of the prisoner’s trust fund statement.”

Some of the survivors of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing reacted strongly to the news that a federal court had overturned Tsarnaev’s death sentence. Survivor Adrianne Haslet wrote on Instagram, “He needs to die.”

Haslet, 40, a dancer who lost a leg in the attack, was one of 17 people left without at least one limb as a result of blasts set off by bombs that Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted as a crowd gathered near the finish line. Haslet wrote:

“The death penalty should be used in this particular case. This terrorist admitted in court he was guilty of crimes committed against our country. He confessed…He is a threat to all of us an he needs to die.”

Another attacked survivor, Rebekah Gregory, wrote on Twitter that the federal court’s decision was “disgusting.” Gregory, 32, a young mother, also lost a leg as a result of the attack. She tweeted:

“So people are sitting on death row for far less and the US Appeals court chooses to overturn the sentence of this COWARD??!” All this does is give him the attention he wants and prolongs the nightmare we have been living the last SEVEN years. Disgusting.”

Tsarnaev was also convicted of killing an MIT police officer as the brothers tried to get away. Tamerlan died in a shootout with police, during which his brother also ran him over. Tsarnaev was sentenced to death after being convicted of 30 charges, most of which were upheld on appeal.

The appeal from July 2020 resulted in the death sentence being thrown out over concerns of the jury selection. The U.S. Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to review the case.

In the petition, federal prosecutors called Tsarnaev’s case “one of the most important terrorism prosecutions in our nation’s history.”