Clarke notes that, before trial, he had offered to settle the case and indicated in that statement that he was remorseful.

(Translation: We offered to plead and accept a life sentence but the Government refused.) Apparently he also submitted a written statement acknowledging guilt as part of his offer to plead guilty.

The judge sentenced him to death and said he would recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that he be designated to Terre Haute. Terre Haute is the location of the feds' death row. The defense had asked for a designation to a prison in New Hampshire. The judge also imposed 19 life terms (on the non-death counts.)

I disagree with this statement from the Judge:

"Whenever your name is mentioned, what will be remembered is the evil you have done. No one will remember your teachers were fond of you."

I will remember his teachers were fond of him. I will also remember the other positive things the defense brought out about him.

I will always have a doubt about the fairness of the sentencing verdict because the trial should not have taken place in Boston.

Every individual is more than the sum of his misdeeds. He was 19 years old when the crime happened. He had no prior record. He can no longer be influenced by his deceased brother, without whom these crimes would not have happened.

Life in prison would have been sufficient punishment. Life is prison is a death sentence: the only way out is in a pine box.