(CNN) Tuesday’s terror attack in New York was the city’s deadliest since 9/11. Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov drove a rented van down a bike path, law enforcement sources have said. The attack killed six victims instantly, while two others died later. New York politicians and officials quickly labeled the incident a terror attack.
Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov is from Uzbekistan, a country NOT on the Travel Ban list.
Donald Trump,
“We need quick justice and strong justice. What we have right now is a joke, and it’s a laughing stock.”
What cases is he talking about? Another empty accusation with no evidence.
What’s laughable is Trump’s ignorance. The 6th Amendment grants that individuals ” shall enjoy the right to a speedy trial”
And “strong justice”? What could be stronger than the death penalty or life without parole?
Let’s discount the fact that the 26 terrorists who hijacked four airplanes on 9/11 all died in the crashes. So let’s look at the these cases.
The following is a list of terrorist attacks on US soil, the speed in which the defendants were brought to trial, their convictions. and the severity of their resulting sentences .
- February 26, 1993 – At 12:18 pm EST, a bomb explodes on the second subterranean level of Vista Hotel’s public parking garage, below the 2 World Trade Center building.
March 4, 1994 – Four defendants, Mohammed Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmud Abouhalima, and Ahmad Ajaj, are convicted. They are sentenced to prison terms of 240 years each. In 1998, the sentences are vacated. In 1999, the men are re-sentenced to terms of more than 100 years.
In a little more than a year, these men are convicted and sentenced.
- Boston (CNN)Two bombs struck near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, killing three people and injuring more than 250 others. A fourth person, an MIT police officer, was killed three days later during the manhunt for the bombing suspects.
- April 8, 2015
Guilty is the jury’s verdict after deliberating 11.5 hours.
The jury finds Tsarnaev guilty of all 30 counts. Tsarnaev, his face a blank, stands with his head bowed and his hands clasped. - May 15, 2015
Tsarnaev is sentenced to death.
In a span of two years and one month, Tsarneav is tried and convicted. He is awaiting execution.
Remember Timothy McVeigh, a domestic terrorist.
- April 19, 1995
9:02 a.m. – Truck bomb explodes in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. - 10:20 a.m. – Timothy McVeigh is arrested during a traffic stop on Interstate 35, near
Perry, Oklahoma, about 90 minutes after the bombing. Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Charlie Hanger arrests McVeigh on firearm charges after stopping him for driving a vehicle without a license plate. McVeigh is booked into the Noble County jail. - June 2, 1997
The jury finds Timothy McVeigh guilty on 11 counts, including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, use of a weapon of mass destruction, destruction by explosive, and eight counts of first-degree murder.
June 13, 1997 Timothy McVeigh is sentenced to death by lethal injection - June 11, 2001
Oklahoma City bomber Timoth McVeigh is executed by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. The execution process begins at 7:00 a.m. (CDT) and authorities pronounce McVeigh dead at 7:14 a.m.
McVeigh spent the final hours before his execution with simple indulgences: television, sleep and two pints of ice cream, his requested final meal. - McVeigh becomes the first federal prisoner executed in 38 years.
In about two years and two months, McVeigh is tried, convicted and sentenced to death.
Even if you’re not from Cleveland, you may have heard of Anthony Sowell. I bring this up to compare the timeline for arrest and conviction between a serial killer and terrorists.
- On October 29, 2009, police arrived at his home with a warrant to arrest him for the alleged rape. He was not there, but they found two bodies on the floor in the living room. He was located and arrested two days later.
- His trial was originally supposed to start on June 2, 2010 but was repeatedly delayed: first to September 7 to allow Sowell’s attorneys more time to prepare, then to February 14, 2011,then to May 2 at the request of Sowell’s defense attorneys who needed more time to comb through thousands of records and hours of surveillance video footage shot from the property next door to Sowell’s Imperial Avenue home, where the remains of 11 women were discovered in 2009 and later to June 6 at the request of the prosecution due to scheduling conflicts. The trial eventually began on June 6, 2011.
- On July 22, 2011, he was convicted on all but two counts against him, including the murders of the eleven women whose bodies were found in his house in 2009. On August 10, jurors recommended the death penalty for Sowell. On August 12, Judge Dick Ambrose upheld the jury’s recommendation. Since September 14, 2011, Sowell has resided on death row at Chillicothe Correctional Institution.
- Time between arrest and conviction: approximately one year and nine months.
So the World Trade Center bombers got life without parole.
The Boston Marathon bomber, the one of two that survived, got the death penalty.
McVeigh, executed and Sowell, awaiting execution.
So Donald, why are these punishments “a laughing stock?”
Small point, Trump’s use of “laughing stock” is grammatically incorrect. The adjective “laughable” is correct. But then Trump says, “I know words. I have the best words.” WTF
BTW Speaking of the Travel Ban, the US already has one of the strictest vetting policies for immigrants and refugees. Trump’s demand to be stricter is hogwash.