Rogers Says Confession Not Needed to Convict Bomb SuspectRogers Says Confession Not Needed to Convict Bomb Suspect

4/22/13 - Congressman Mike Rogers believes there's enough evidence against the suspected Boston marathon bomber to convict him. Speaking Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" the Howell Republican, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, said he's not worried that the government has decided against reading the suspect his Miranda rights. He says FBI agents need to know whether there are other bombs more than they need to use in court what the suspect might tell them. "I think Mirandizing him up front would be a horrible idea. Now, it’s my understanding that that’s not going to happen. I’ve had good conversations with the FBI. They are going to do their due diligence on the public safety portion. Here is where the problem is. They’re getting pressure from outside groups to actually do-- to do the Mirandizing, which is why we ought to let the FBI do their work." Rogers, a former FBI agent whose district includes all of Livingston County, says there is so much evidence against the suspect that a conviction should be easy even without a confession. "I think I-- I could make this case without a confession from this guy. There is a period of time we don’t need his confession upfront. We need the information that he has to make sure that America is safe." Rogers also defended the FBI following revelations that they had investigated one of the Boston Marathon bombers in 2011. Although the FBI received a request from Russian officials to investigate 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev two years ago for possible ties to Chechnyan extremists, Rogers says agents were “hamstrung” when the Russian intelligence service stopped cooperating with the U.S. Rogers says that without that cooperation, all agents could do was check the databases and look at what he called his “digital footprint.” Finding nothing, they closed their file. Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police several days after authorities say he and his younger brother placed and detonated bombs that killed three and wounded more than 180 others. Rogers says authorities are now focusing on the six-and-a-half months the older Tsarnaev was in Russia last year, after which he returned seemingly radicalized to the role of U.S. in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world. (JK)