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Tag: dzhokhar tsarnaev

  • Francis to retire as Essex police chief

    Francis to retire as Essex police chief

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    The Essex Board of Selectmen is weighing its options for the top cop in town.

    News that current police Chief Paul Francis plans to retire next year has led the board to consider next steps for filling the post, with discussion about the matter taking place during the regular Board of Selectmen meeting on Aug. 26.

    Francis, who will formally retire on June 30, 2025, has formerly served as police chief since Aug. 1, 2019. His annual salary is $142,498, Town Administrator Brendhan Zubricki said.

    On Thursday, Francis, 63, said the time to step down is approaching.

    “It’s time. I’ve been doing this since late 1994,” he said.

    The lifelong Gloucester resident said he does not expect to move away from Cape Ann after he retires.

    “I was born in Gloucester, I’ve lived in Gloucester and will be there the rest of my life, knock on wood,” Francis said. “I’m going to take some time off, but I’m not planning on moving.”

    Francis was named police chief in Essex in 2018, succeeding former Police Chief Peter Silva, who retired after serving as chief since 2005.

    Francis served as a member of the Essex Police Department for 23 years before being named chief.

    The search process will be conducted by the Board of Selectmen.

    “The selectmen are presently working to formulate how the process will work,” Zubricki said. “It will probably not begin until late-November.”

    Regarding just when a successor will be named is a question.

    “(The) schedule has not yet been defined,” Zubricki said.

    During the Monday selectmen’s meeting, he told board members they need to determine how they plan to reach out to potential candidates and how they might post the job.

    “And you need to determine what your schedule is going to be,” Zubricki said. “In addition, the board should determine whether the job description, which you have made some minor changes to, is that the final version?

    “Because when we actually do advertise the position, most candidates are going to ask for a copy of the job description and we don’t want to change it in the middle of the advertisement period.”

    A preliminary screening committee will make a recommendation about candidates who will eventually appear during a public forum before a finalist is selected.

    Ruth Pereen, chairperson of the Board of Selectmen, said she believes that focusing on a search for candidates in Massachusetts should be sufficient.

    “Do you really see a need to go outside Massachusetts?” she asked at the meeting. “I don’t. We’re going outside of the department. I think that staying within Massachusetts makes sense. If there’s somebody interested in New Hampshire or Rhode Island, they’ll probably hear about it.”

    Years of service

    Francis, who was 57-years-old at the time he was named chief, had worked on the Essex Police Department’s budget with Silva and also served as the department’s accreditation officer.

    In addition, Francis served as a member of the Cape Ann Regional Response Team – a duty that took him and more than a dozen officers from other Cape Ann departments to Watertown for the 2013 post-Boston Marathon bombing manhunt that ultimately found the now convicted terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

    Francis said the experience was surreal.

    “We were right in the thick of it going from house to house,” he said. “They found him in the boat.”

    Francis said he was also proud of the time in 2009 when a bank robbery suspect was apprehended and later convicted for robbing the former First National Bank of Ipswich, now Brookline Bank.

    “It took six weeks to find the person,” he said. “After finding him, in collaboration with the FBI and the (Middlesex) Sherriff’s Department, it was satisfying.”

    But Francis said it will soon be time for a new chapter in his life.

    “It’s time I did something different,” he said.

    The next regular Board of Selectmen’s meeting in Essex will take place in the third floor auditorium at Town Hall on Monday, Sept. 9 at 6 p.m. Essex Town Hall is at 30 Martin St.

    Stephen Hagan may be contacted at 978-675-2708, or shagan@gloucestertimes.com.

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    By Stephen Hagan | Staff Writer

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  • Boston Marathon Fast Facts | CNN

    Boston Marathon Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the Boston Marathon, run from Hopkinton to Boston. The finish line is in front of the Boston Public Library on Boylston Street.

    April 15, 2024 – The 128th Boston Marathon is scheduled to take place.

    April 17, 2023 – The 127th Boston Marathon takes place. The winners are Evans Chebet of Kenya in the men’s division and Hellen Obiri of Kenya in the women’s division.

    The race is organized by the Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.), and the principal sponsor is John Hancock Financial Services.

    Runners are categorized by gender, then by age. Qualifying times depend on the age of the participant on the day of the race.

    Participants must be 18 years of age on the day of the race and must meet certain time standards to qualify for their age group.

    Visually impaired runners are allowed to participate, but they must have a five hour qualifying time. There are also categories for wheelchairs and handcycles.

    Runners come from all over the world to participate.

    Best Men’s Open time – 2:03:02 – Geoffrey Mutai, Kenya – (2011)
    Best Women’s Open time – 2:19:59 – Buzunesh Deba, Ethiopia – (2014)
    Best Men’s Wheelchair time – Marcel Hug, Switzerland, 1:18:04 (2017)
    Best Women’s Wheelchair time – Manuela Schar, Switzerland – 1:28:17 (2017)

    April 19, 1897 – The first marathon is run and is 24.8 miles. The winner is John J. McDermott of New York, with a time of 2:55:10. There are 18 entrants, 15 starters and 10 finishers.

    1897-1968 – The race is run on April 19, Patriots’ Day, a holiday commemorating the start of the Revolutionary War only recognized in Massachusetts and Maine. In those years that April 19 falls on a Sunday, the race is held the next day, Monday the 20th.

    1918 – A military relay is held instead of the marathon due to the United States’ involvement in World War I.

    April 19, 1924 – The race is lengthened to 26.2 miles to conform to Olympic standards.

    April 17, 1967 – Kathrine Switzer becomes the first woman to receive a number to run in the Boston Marathon. She enters the race under the name K.V. Switzer and wears baggy clothes to disguise herself. Females are not officially allowed to enter until 1972.

    1969 – Patriots’ Day is changed to the third Monday in April, so the date of the race is also changed.

    1975 – A wheelchair division is added to the marathon. Bob Hall finishes the race in two hours and 58 minutes in a wheelchair.

    April 15, 1996 – The 100th Boston Marathon is run. There are a record 35,868 finishers.

    April 15, 2013 – Two bombs explode near the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring at least 264 others.

    May 15, 2015 – Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is sentenced to death for his role in the 2013 marathon bombings. In July 2020, an appeals court vacates Tsarnaev’s death sentence and rules he should be given a new penalty trial. In March 2021, the Supreme Court agrees to review the lower court opinion that vacated Tsarnaev’s death sentence. The Supreme Court upholds his death sentence in March 2022. In January 2023, attorneys for Tsarnaev request his death sentence be vacated during a federal appeals court hearing.

    October 26, 2016 – Three-time winner Rita Jeptoo of Kenya, loses her 2014 title and record for the fastest women’s finish ever (2:18:57), as part of a ruling on her two-year ban for doping.

    May 28, 2020 – Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announces that the 2020 marathon is canceled because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. A virtual event, in which participants can earn their finisher’s medal by verifying that they ran 26.2 miles on their own within a six-hour time period, will take place September 7-14.

    October 28, 2020 – The B.A.A. announces that the 2021 marathon will be postponed until the fall of 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    April 7, 2022 – Sixty-three entrants living in Russia and Belarus are banned from participating in the 2022 Boston Marathon and Boston Athletic Association 5K. After the invasion of Ukraine, various sports teams from Russia and Belarus have been banned entirely from competition as part of a sanctions package.

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  • Appeals court orders judge to probe claims of juror bias in Boston Marathon bomber’s case

    Appeals court orders judge to probe claims of juror bias in Boston Marathon bomber’s case

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    A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s case to be returned to a lower court to probe claims of juror bias.

    The order from the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals keeps intact Tsarnaev’s death sentence for now.

    But the appeals court said the trial court judge’s investigation into plausible claims of juror bias “fell short of what was constitutionally required.” The appeals court said the judge must now determine whether two jurors should have been stricken because of biases.

    “If and only if the district court’s investigation reveals that either juror should have been stricken for cause on account of bias,” Tsarnaev will be entitled to a new trial to determine whether he should be put to death, the court said.

    The Boston-based appeals court issued its ruling more than two years after the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the sentence imposed on 30-year-old Tsarnaev for his role in the bombing that killed three people and injured hundreds near the marathon’s finish line in 2013.

    The 1st Circuit took another look at the case after Tsarnaev’s lawyers urged it to examine issues the Supreme Court didn’t consider. Among them was whether the trial judge wrongly forced the trial to be held in Boston and wrongly denied defense challenges to seating two jurors they say lied during questioning.

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    The Associated Press

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  • Boston Marathon Bombing Remembered At 10-Year Anniversary

    Boston Marathon Bombing Remembered At 10-Year Anniversary

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    BOSTON (AP) — With a bagpiper playing “The Bells of Dunblane” and a few runners looking on, families of those killed in the Boston Marathon bombing marked the 10th anniversary of the tragedy early Saturday by slowly walking together to the memorial sites near the finish line and laying wreaths.

    Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who was making her first run for City Council when the bombing happened, joined the somber procession along with Gov. Maura Healey. At each memorial site — marked with three stone pillars for the three victims — they stood with the families in silence. A brief ceremony will be held later in the day at the finish line of marathon, where bells will ring followed by a moment of silence.

    The 127th running of the Boston Marathon takes place Monday.

    “The day never leaves me,” said Jennifer Black, 71, a realtor from Loveland, Ohio, who was watching the procession and recounted how her race in 2013 was cut short due to the bombing and talked about those who died in the attack. She is back in Boston to run this year.

    “So much loss, so much pain all because of hate,” she continued, tears streaming down her face. “We have to stand up for people. We have to look out for each other, and we have to pray for these families every day.”

    Standing next to Black, Karen Russell, of Boston, said she felt it was important to witness the procession especially on the 10th anniversary.

    “The families are still suffering even though we’ve gone on,” Russel said. “There are a lot of people that got hurt that day and that pain will never go away. … I feel it’s important to be here to let them know we still care.”

    Investigators examine the scene of the second bombing near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon the day after two blasts killed three and injured more than 260 people.

    Elise Amendola via Associated Press

    Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured when two pressure-cooker bombs went off at the marathon finish line. Among the dead were Lu Lingzi, a 23-year-old Boston University graduate student from China; Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager from Medford, Massachusetts; and 8-year-old Martin Richard, who had gone to watch the marathon with his family.

    During a tense, four-day manhunt that paralyzed the city, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Officer Sean Collier was shot dead in his car. Boston Police Officer Dennis Simmonds also died a year after he was wounded in a confrontation with the bombers.

    Police captured a bloodied and wounded Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston suburb of Watertown, where he was hiding in a boat parked in a backyard, hours after his brother died. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, had been in a gunfight with police and was run over by his brother as he fled.

    “I think we’re all still living with those tragic days 10 years ago,” Bill Evans, the former Boston Police Commissioner, said recently.

    Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death and much of the attention, in recent years, has been around his bid to avoid being executed.

    Participants of a gathering for victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing process between memorials on Boylston Street, Saturday April 15, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Reba Saldanha)
    Participants of a gathering for victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing process between memorials on Boylston Street, Saturday April 15, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Reba Saldanha)

    A federal appeals court is considering Tsarnaev’s latest bid to avoid execution. A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston heard arguments in January in the 29-year-old’s case, but has yet to issue a ruling.

    The appeals court initially threw out Tsarnaev’s death sentence in 2020, saying the trial judge did not adequately screen jurors for potential biases. But the U.S. Supreme Court revived it last year.

    The 1st Circuit is now weighing whether other issues that weren’t considered by the Supreme Court require the death sentence to be tossed a second time. Among other things, Tsarnaev says the trial judge wrongly denied his challenge of two jurors who defense attorneys say lied during jury selection questioning.

    The bombing not only unified Boston — “Boston Strong” became the city’s rallying cry — but inspired many in the running community and prompted scores of those impacted by the terror attack to run the marathon. At the memorial sites Saturday several flower pots with the words “Boston Strong” held what have become known as Marathon daffodils.

    “It really galvanized and showed our sport’s and our city’s resiliency, our desire together to continue even better and to enhance the Boston Marathon,” Boston Athletic Association President and CEO Jack Fleming said. “The bombing in 2013 resulted in a new appreciation or a different appreciation for what Boston, what the Boston Marathon, has always stood for, which is that expression of freedom that you receive and get while running.”

    On Saturday, the focus will mostly be on remembering victims and survivors of the bombing but also, as Wu said, “really making sure this was a moment to focus on where the city and our communities, our families are headed in the future.”

    Jennifer Black, 71, recalls the day of the bombing.
    Jennifer Black, 71, recalls the day of the bombing.

    Reba Saldanha via Associated Press

    That sentiment will be reflected in what has become known as “One Boston Day,” where acts of kindness and service take place to honor victims, survivors and first responders. This year, nearly two dozen community service projects are happening including a shoe drive and several food drives, blood drives and neighborhood cleanups.

    “This time of year evokes a strong emotion for so many of us across the City and the people touched by the tragedy ten years ago. But the most prevailing one is that Boston is indeed strong, and that our communities show up for each other in times of need,” Jacob Robinson, the executive director of West Roxbury Main Streets, one of the groups hosting the shoe drive, said in a statement.

    AP Sports Writer Jimmy Golen contributed to this report.

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