So now we get to have a national debate about the rights of the accused. Since the war on terror began this country has constantly had issues with figuring out how to deal with people engaged in warlike activities against the United States or it's forces.
19 year old Dzokhar Tsarnaev is a naturalized American citizen who came to this country over 10 years ago. He has lived here, gone to great schools, made friends and built an online social media following. He also somewhere along the line became an Islamic terrorist. He along with his older brother most assuredly are guilty for the murder of 4 innocent people and injuring nearly 200 this past week by bombing the finish line area of the Boston marathon, and several shootouts with authorities Thursday and Friday.
Nearly everyone is familiar with Miranda rights. They are fundamental to our legal process. They protect all citizens (and even non-citizens who are accused of crimes on American soil) ensuring legal representation and protections. What most Americans are unaware of is that there is an exception to Miranda rights. The so-called "public safety" exception. It has existed for over 70 years having been first argued during World War II. It is established law that persons captured in a battlefield are not criminals eligible for all the same legal protections as regular citizens. Instead they are a different category. It is common sense and universally understood (well except by liberal Democrats who have general issues with basic facts, but I digress). The public safety exception allows that when there is a potential imminent threat, authorities are allowed to question someone without taking the time to bring legal representation into the process.
Clearly this young man is a killer. He clearly engaged in terror activities against Americans. There really is zero actual reasonable question about this whatsoever. The issue of whether or not he will eventually be executed for his actions of this past week is moot. It will happen regardless of who eventually represents him in court. That said, he is a resource of potentially valuable information and should be interrogated using the public safety exception to gather intelligence. There may well be a cell out there that needs exposing. It should be a rather simple task for the FBI to question him offering that any intelligence he provides will not be used against him in the eventual actual criminal trial that is inevitable.
We are a nation of laws. It makes us special. The law can be a harsh thing. This is one of those times. I am not so concerned with Dzokhar Tsarnaev's personal rights (because ultimately they will be enforced and he will get his day in court) as I am that there may or may not be a larger group of evil out there going into hiding. We need to find them. Afterward, let this evildoer have whatever lawyers he can afford at his trial. He will be found guilty of federal crimes. He will die for them, unless he is put into general population and meets the wrong Patriotic inmate. Oh well, things happen.
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