US Justice Dept.’s highest honor for team that worked on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Aloke S. Chakravarty from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Massachusetts is among the team that has won the US Attorney General’s David Margolis Award for Exceptional Service, the department’s highest award for employee performance.
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch recognized 376 Justice Department employees for their distinguished public service, on Monday, at the 64th Annual Attorney General’s Awards Ceremony. Forty-seven other individuals outside of the department were also honored for their work. This annual ceremony recognizes individuals for their outstanding service and dedication to carrying out the missions of the Department of Justice.
“The Attorney General’s Awards provide us with a rare opportunity to honor the efforts of outstanding department employees and our invaluable partners across the federal government and at the state and local levels,” said Lynch, in a statement issued by the Justice Department. “Their work has made our nation – and our world – stronger, safer and more just, and I am proud of and inspired by each and every one of them.”
The Attorney General’s David Margolis Award for Exceptional Service is the department’s highest award for employee performance. This year’s award was presented to the team responsible for the investigation and prosecution of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
On April 15, 2013, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev detonated two powerful improvised explosive devices near the Boston Marathon finish line, killing three, maiming 17 and injuring hundreds more in the largest mass-casualty terrorist attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001. Following a manhunt during which the brothers killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shoot-out with police and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested. Members of the FBI’s Boston Field Office oversaw a worldwide investigation that involved more than 6,000 items of physical and digital evidence, over 100,000 photographs and videos and more than 1,000 witness interviews.
Tsarnaev was charged in a 30-count indictment with numerous crimes of terrorism and other violent offenses. Over the course of a 10-week trial, the prosecution team introduced over 1,000 exhibits and called more than 100 witnesses to the stand, including 14 victims who lost limbs in the bombings; family members of the murdered; other survivors and eye witnesses; fingerprint, DNA, bomb, ballistics and terrorism experts; and law enforcement officers. The prosecutors also cross-examined nearly 50 defense witnesses during the penalty-phase defense case. A jury found Tsarnaev guilty on all 30 counts in the indictment. He was sentenced to death on six counts and to life in prison on 11 other counts, and was ordered to pay $101 million in restitution to the victims.
Apart from Chakravarty, the other recipients include: James B. Farmer and William D. Weinreb, Community Outreach Program Manager Cara M. Henderson, Acting Executive Officer Christina DiIorio-Sterling and Victim/Witness Specialist Kathleen M. Griffin and Jessica M. Pooler; from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Texas, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D. Mellin; from the Criminal Division’s Capital Case Section, Trial Attorney Jeffrey B. Kahan; from the FBI’s Legal Attache in Ottawa, Supervisory Special Agent Courtland D. Rae; from the FBI’s Boston Field Office, Special Agents David S. Bell and Timothy D. Brown and Photographer Michelle M. Gamble; from the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section, Trial Attorneys David P. Cora, Gregory R. Gonzalez and Joseph N. Kaster, Legal Administrative Specialist Pamela J. Hall, Litigation Support Manager Laura P. Galban and Paralegal Specialist Jamie M. Haydel; from the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) District of Massachusetts, Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Kevin W. Neal, Acting Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Jeffrey L. Bohn, Deputy U.S. Marshals Jesse Donaruma, Matthew Lawlor and Robert M. Lima and Protective Intelligence Investigator Jonathan A. Lemay; from the USMS Judicial Security Division, Assistant Chief Inspector Gregory C. Petchel; from the USMS Prisoner Operations Division, Assistant Chief Inspector Charles Hardison; from the USMS Tactical Operations Division, Deputy Commanders Harry W. Little and Mark S. Walker and Special Operations Group Inspectors Richard “Todd” Jordan and Leigh N. Marchegiani; and from the U.S. Department of the Navy’s Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Special Agent Christopher J. Bould.