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ByDeniseLavoie The Associated Press BOSTON Totrytosavehim from the death penalty in the Boston Marathon bomb- ing, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's lawyers will probably look for jurors who are intellec- tually curious and eager to learn about other cultures and religions. Prosecutors, in turn, will no doubt try to pick conser- vative, patriotic types who have steady work habits, have lived comfortable lives and are particularly sensi- tive to the randomness of the terror attack. Such is the conventional wisdom among jury con- sultants and other legal experts who say the ques- tion of whether Tsarnaev receives a death sentence will be all but decided dur- ing jury selection. Tsarnaev, 21, is accused of taking part in the twin bombing at the finish line of the race on April 15, 2013, killing three people and wounding more than 260. He is also charged in the slaying of an MIT po- lice officer. P r o s e c u t o r s s a y Dzhokhar and his brother, Tamerlan — ethnic Chech- ens who had lived in the United States for about a decade — carried out the at- tack in retaliation for U.S. wars in Muslim countries. Tamerlan, 26, died in a gun- battle with police days after the bombing. Given the evidence against Dzhokhar — includ- ing incriminating graffiti on the boat where he was captured, and video of him planting a backpack at the site of the one of the blasts — legal experts say there is little doubt he will be found guilty. They say his lawyers are concentrating instead on saving him from a death sentence from the jury dur- ing the penalty phase. They are expected to argue that Tsarnaev had a difficult childhood and fell under the malignant influence of his older brother, who em- braced a radical brand of Islam. "Any time the death pen- alty is on the table, the de- fense is going to want peo- ple who will look past the crime and try to understand why. Not just what hap- pened, but how could this happen and why did this happen, what was the ratio- nale?" said Karen Fleming- Ginn, a jury consultant who worked for prosecutors in the trial of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and has supplied her exper- tise to defense attorneys in 60 other capital cases. Fleming-Ginn said the defense will look for jurors who are naturally curious, like to travel and want to learn about the world. "Typically, these are peo- ple who are educated, they can see shades of gray a lit- tle bit better, they are not going to be black and white, they might have more of a sense of mercy," she said. The government is likely to seek out jurors who have lived life on the straight and narrow. "The prosecution will be looking for people who are more law-and-order types — people in that rigid-neck kind of way — who are will- ing to impose the death penalty," said John Blume, a Cornell University pro- fessor and director of Cor- nell's Death Penalty Project, which conducts research on capital punishment. Fleming-Ginn said the common perception that mothers and female teach- ers and nurses tend to be sympathetic to defendants has not proved true in the dozens of trials she has han- dled, and it could hurt Tsar- naev. Tsarnaev was 19 at the time of the bombing. One of those killed was an 8-year- old boy. "Motherhood could cut both ways in this case," she said. Gerry Leone, a former state and federal prosecutor who led the prosecution of shoe bomber Richard Reid, said it will be important for prosecutors to exclude any- one who might be sympa- thetic to the argument that the older brother "was this coercive, intimidating, con- trolling figure who so dom- inated his younger brother that it caused him to do things that he otherwise wouldn't have done." To be chosen for the jury, jurors must be deemed "death-qualified," meaning they must be willing to con- sider imposing the death penalty. Those opposed to capital punishment under any circumstances cannot serve. Finding death-qualified jurors in a state histori- cally opposed to the death penalty poses another set of problems. Massachusetts abolished its death penalty in 1984 and numerous at- tempts to reinstate it have failed. The case against Tsarnaev is being brought in federal court. Jury selection is expected to take at least three weeks. The process began Mon- day. About 800 potential jurors have been called in and asked to fill out ques- tionnaires. An additional 400 will report to court Wednesday. The unusually large pool of 1,200 was deemed neces- sary because of the heavy news coverage of the trag- edy and the large number of people affected by it. Tsarnaev's lawyers asked repeatedly that the trial be moved out of Boston, where the bombing had a trau- matic effect. The judge re- fused. BOSTON MARATHON Ju ry 's m ak eu p see n as c ri ti ca l in b om bi ng t ri al JANEFLAVELLCOLLINS—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS In this courtroom sketch, Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, second from right, is depicted with his lawyers, le , beside U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr., right, as O'Toole addresses a pool of potential jurors in a jury assembly room at the federal courthouse, Monday in Boston. By Keith Ridler The Associated Press BOISE, IDAHO Interior Sec- retary Sally Jewell is calling for a new wildfire-fighting strategy to protect a wide swath of sagebrush country in the intermountain West that supports cattle ranch- ing and is home to a strug- gling bird species. She issued an order Tues- dayseekinga"science-based" approachthatsafeguardsthe greater sage grouse while contending with fires that have been especially destruc- tive in the Great Basin region of Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Ore- gon and California. Her order stems at least in part from a November con- ference in Boise that brought together scientists and land managers to find collabor- ative ways to protect Great Basin rangelands from the plague of wildfires that have been increasing in intensity. One change suggested there by Neil Kornze, di- rector of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, was to put the protection of range- land resources ahead of property. The protection of human lifewould remain the top priority. "If we were to flip the bot- tom two, it would change a lot, and it would be hard," Kornze said in closing re- marks at the conference. "It would be hard to explain that to some of our urban and mixed-landscape fire- fighting partners." Jewell's order creates a task force and sets a March 1 deadline for it to report on guidelines to be put in place for the 2015 wildfire season. Task force member Janice Schneider,assistantsecretary for Land and Minerals Man- agement, declined to com- ment on what the new strat- egy might entail or address whether it would take into account Kornze's suggestion. But she noted Jewell's or- der marks a "very significant point in time for the depart- ment in terms of how it han- dles fire." "We're undergoing a top- to-bottom review of our fire policy and fire management strategies," Schneider said. Rangeland wildfires in the West have grown more massive and destructive in recent decades. Scientists say warmer and dryer sum- mers have increased the length of the region's wild- fire seasons, which are made worse by fire-prone invasive species, particularly cheat- grass. The recurring fires wipe out grazing areas for cattle and native plants such as sagebrush, in turn eliminat- ing the native species that rely on them. Since 2012, Schneider noted, more than 2.5 mil- lion acres of sage grouse habitat has burned on BLM land. It can take decades for sagebrush to return, though nonnative plants often move in first, only to burn a few years later. Jewell's order is an at- tempt to stop that cycle and protect the sagebrush steppe that generally is considered part of the iconic Western landscape. "It's the Western way of life," Schneider said. "We should be taking all the steps to protect this way of life and the economic engine it supports to make sure it's around a really long time." The greater sage grouse, under consideration for fed- eral protection, already has put on hold development of wind farms and oil and gas drilling plans in some ar- eas. Experts say an endan- gered species listing for the bird could damage Western states' economies. Last month, President Barack Obama signed a $1.1 trillion spending bill with a provision that barred money from being spent on rules to protect the chicken-sized bird and three related types of grouse. Interior officials later said U.S. wildlife officials will continue analyzing sage grouse data and make a deci- sion on whether protections are warranted by fall. Population estimates for greater sage grouse range from 100,000 to 500,000 birds. They occupy 290,000 square miles of habitat in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Da- kota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Alberta and Sas- katchewan. John Freemuth, a pub- lic land policy expert and Boise State University pro- fessor, said a new firefight- ing approach that considers the entire ecosystem could work if the various agencies involved aren't overwhelmed by its complexity or end up in turf wars over which one should take the lead on po- tential changes. "The key thing here to me is they have to think compre- hensively and holistically," Freemuth said. "They have to reach across their agency borders. It is sort of some- thing that if we don't start off down a new path, our problems are going to get worse." INTERMOUNTAIN WEST Je we ll o rd er s ne w wi ld fir e fig ht in g st ra te gy RICK BOWMER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Interior Secretary Sally Jewell speaks in Salt Lake City. By Alicia A. Caldwell The Associated Press WASHINGTON The Home- land Security Depart- ment's border drones pro- gram costs far more than the government estimates, helps in the arrests of just a fraction of the number of people trying to cross the border illegally and flies far fewer hours than the government claims, an in- ternal watchdog asserted in a report released Tues- day. Inspector General John Roth said in his report that the Predator B drones flown along the border by Customs and Border Protection are "dubious achievers." Customs and Border Protection doesn't have any performance mea- sures, so the agency can't prove that the program is effective, it said. CBP planned to operate four 16-hour drone patrols a day, for about 23,290 to- tal flight hours during the 2013 budget year that ended Sept. 30, 2013. But Roth's audit found that the planes were actually in the air for about 5,100 hours, or roughly 22 percent of the planned flight time. Drones have also led to relatively few apprehen- sions of people crossing the border illegally. In the two busiest Border Patrol sectors, Tucson, Arizona, and Texas' Rio Grande Valley, drones accounted for only about 2,270 of the more than 275,000 appre- hensions in 2013. CBP spokesman Carlos Lazo said the agency dis- agrees with the report's findings and said audi- tors don't appear to fully understand the program, including future expan- sion plans. He said while CBP is authorized to add drones to the fleet, there are no immediate plans to do so. CBP has nine drones flying along the Mexican and Canadian borders as well as coast lines in Flor- ida, Texas and Southern California. A 10th drone was downed over the Pa- cific Ocean last year after suffering technical prob- lems. Roth said while the agency hopes to add about 14 aircraft in the coming years the $443 million the agency plans to spend on expanding the fleet could be better spent on manned aircraft and ground sur- veillance. HOMELAND SECURITY Report: Agency should drop plans to buy new drones By Tom Raum The Associated Press WASHINGTON Retiring Postmaster General Pat- rick R. Donahoe scoffed Tuesday at suggestions that the Postal Service could ease some of its chronic financial woes by branching out and offering basic banking services to its customers. "Our role is delivery," not making financial ser- vices available, he told re- porters. The banking proposal came from the office of in- spector general within the Postal Service itself, and has gained considerable attention, including the backing of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a mem- ber of the Senate Banking Committee. Supporters say such services could in- clude prepaid debit cards, check cashing or savings accounts. Donahoe will retire Feb. 1 after almost 40 years with the service. Megan J. Brennan, now the chief op- erating officer of the Postal Service, will take over, be- coming the first female postmaster general. Donahoe made a part- ing plea to Congress to give the Postal Service, which receives no tax dol- lars, "the additional flexi- bility it needs to deal with some of our bigger struc- tural issues." He briefly discussed last November's cyberat- tack that compromised the data of more than 800,000 Postal Service workers. Donahoe said the Postal Service is now using "a lot of cyber protection" not yet on the market. "Basically, they want us to build a wall and a moat, but sometimes hackers get in anyway," he said. U.S. POSTAL SERVICE Po st ma st er g en er al s la ms banking duties proposal Freshcoverage5days Tuesday,January27 Wednesday, January 28 Thursday, January 29 Friday, January 30 & Saturday, January 31 ContactyourAdvertising Representative today (530)527-2151 N EWS D AILY RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY published only in the Deadline for 5x Flights: Friday, January 23 at 10AM CUSTOM DAILY EDITIONS Bull&GeldingSale C & C PROPERTIES AnIndependentlyownedandoperatedMemberof Coldwell Banker Residential Affiliates. 741 Main Street, Suite #2 Red Bluff, CA 96080 1-800-287-2187 (530) 527-2187 1265 Britt Lane 20010 Verner Court 20410 Live Oak Road 40306 Pine Way 13265 Hwy 99 E 1430 Elva Ave. 1448 Madison Street 16360 Oakridge 778 Antelope Blvd 21325 Wilcox 19525 Gutenhot Road 130 Gerring Road 20340 Highway 36 West 22603 Rodeo Ave. 21945 Parkway Drive 1460 Orange Street 132 Brookridge 809 South Street 350 Gilmore Road 14850 Molluc Drive 14565 Chico Court 18762 Palomino Drive 875 Orange Street 22010 Grove Circle 1300 Southpointe 14630 River Oaks 2805 Highland Bluffs Drive 14525 Oak Meadow Drive 10354 Shasta Blvd. 2770 Oriole Drive 350 Gilmore Road 734 Musick Ave. 946 Jackson Street 2480 Cimarron Drive 000 5th Ave. 180 Main Street 20720 Estel Lane 320 San Joaquin 480 Sale Lane 995 2nd Street 2535 Forward Way 2710 Cimarron Drive 212 Aspen Way 20445 Vintage Dr 20336 Acorn Ave. 19760 Little Lane 14082 Baker Road 17615 Dolores Ave 22112 Palermo Ave. 14325 Molluc Drive 665 Larie Lane 23689 Olive Ave. 22840 Jorgenson Lane 3300 Barham Ave. 17392 Grandview Drive 12145 Hwy 99 E 935 Hasvold Drive 216 Aspen Way 2310 Montgomery Road 530 El Cerrito Drive 21340 Oakwood Drive 20663 Jessica Court 38207 Scenic Ave. 1383 Deborah Drive 3835 Gardiner Ferry Road 4845 Houghton Ave. 12585 Black Court 38290 Battle Creek Ave. Lot 4 Battle Creek Ave. 1105 Monroe Street 111 Beverley Ave. 20880 Live Oak Road 10900 Carey Lane 14800 Hilltop Drive 223 Main Street 1107 Jefferson Street 11926 Hwy 99 E 20735 Dream Way 920 Oak Grove Ave. 25015 Taft Street 128 Manzanita Ave. 20664 Jessica Court 1125 Delphinium Street 38236 Mineral 870 Rio Street 641 Johnson Street 2635 Cimarron Drive LOT C Quail Ridge Road 14785 Hilltop Drive 16355 Basler Road 2420 Oriole Drive 14505 Montana Court 4315 Via Ventura 22411 Adobe Road 180 Main Street 17200 Red Bank Road 1305 Donita Drive 725 Larie Lane 18285 Bowman Road 24640 Dale Road 15360 Vintage Oaks Drive 23309 Richfield Road 14155 Black Mountain Court 17310 Hooker Creek Road 180 Main Street 222 Sherman Drive 1145 Jefferson Street 610 Villa Drive 22602 Fisher Road 70 Lake Ave. 20700 Live Oak Road 630 Center Ave. 24967 Taft Street 23363 Campo Road 18597 Clydesdale Drive 12355 Muller Ave. 25890 Hwy 36 E 38235 Alpine Ave. 18598 Stallion Drive 150 Mary Lane 22568 Rio Robles 14415 Paynes Creek Road 14485 Ryan Lane 1576 Pear Street 20329 Acorn Ave. 10 Agua Verdi Drive 3549 Columbia Ave. 18040 Johnson Road 2045 Washington Ave. 7042 Roundup Drive Properties That Coldwell Banker C&C Properties Participated in the Sale of During 2014: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B