“Murderers don’t kill strangers just to make a statement to other strangers.”
Adam Lana killed strangers.
James Holmes killed strangers.
Jared Lee Loughner killed strangers.
Should we treat the Boston Bomber harsher than James Holmes or Jared Lee Loughner?
Exactly.
How harshly is it even possible to treat someone? Especially when they're already dead. That's not the point. The point is the clear difference in the nature of these acts. The three "shooters" were acting out personal fantasies of some kind, and in this sense their acts were "crazy", that is done only to gratify the impulse, and with no idea of anything to follow.
The Boston bombers acted in concert, and walked away from the scene anonymously, resuming their innocuous seeming activities. They planned to do more, but were foiled by the video that ID'd them, which represents a miscalculation on their part. I say it was terrorism if there is such a thing, and there is.
Should we treat the Boston Bomber harsher than James Holmes or Jared Lee Loughner?
We can't kill him twice, but if we could... Yes, he should be treated differently that someone who is insane. He made an attack against his country as an act of war, and precluding declaring Islam to me a mental illness, he committed treason. He should be tried for treason and then for murder.