The federal government is demanding the return of that $1,400 COVID relief check from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted of murder for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed several people.
Fox News reports Tsarnaev, whose death sentence now is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, has been ordered by prosecutors in his case to return the federal money.
A court filing this week in his case charged that the money should be used instead as restitution for his victims.
The report explained he now has $3,885.06 in his prison account, including the federal money. Other contributions to him have come from a private citizens and the Office of Federal Defenders of New York.
“Thousands” of dollars were spent from his account on gifts for his siblings, but he’s paid barely anything on the more than $101 million owed to victims, the filing said.
He’s actually paid only $2.202.03 in restitution, the court document said.
Spending on clothes and books in prison is legitimate, but other funds should be given to victims, the prosecutors ask.
“The United States submits that the requested relief is reasonable and appropriate in this instance, especially in light of the Defendant prioritizing payments to his siblings over the victims of his crimes,” the filing said.
He was convicted after prosecutors charged he and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted bombs near the marathon’s finish line, killing three and injuring dozens. Tamerlan Tsarnaev later died in a shootout with police.
Fox News reported it was a vote by all Democrats that gave the inmate the federal tax money.
It was because of Democrats’ vote for the American Rescue Plan of 2021 last year – absent a GOP amendment that would have blocked inmates from getting the checks.
At the time, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., warned convicts like Tsarnaev would be given the money.
“Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Bomber, murdered three people and terrorized a city,” Cotton wrote on social media. “He’ll be getting a $1,400 stimulus check as part of the Democrats’ ‘COVID relief’ bill.”
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Bomber, murdered three people and terrorized a city.
He’ll be getting a $1,400 stimulus check as part of the Democrats’ “COVID relief” bill.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) March 6, 2021
He and two other Republicans offered an amendment to block those checks to prisoners – but it failed on a 49-50 vote with all 50 opposition votes coming from Democrats.
Then Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., complained prisoners’ children would be hurt if the prisoners didn’t get the federal checks.
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