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| FILE - This undated photo released by the FBI on April 19, 2013 shows Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. On Friday, May 15, 2015, Tsarnaev was sentenced to death by lethal injection for the 2013 Boston Marathon terror attack. |
BOSTON (AP)
-- A jury sentenced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death Friday for the Boston
Marathon bombing, sweeping aside pleas that he was just a "kid" who fell
under the influence of his fanatical older brother.
Tsarnaev,
21, stood with his hands folded, his head slightly bowed, upon learning
his fate, sealed after 14 hours of deliberations over three days. It
was the most closely watched terrorism trial in the U.S. since the
Oklahoma City bombing case two decades ago.
The
decision sets the stage for what could be the nation's first execution
of a terrorist in the post-9/11 era, though the case is likely to go
through years of appeals. The execution would be carried out by lethal
injection.
"Now he will go away and we will be
able to move on. Justice. In his own words, `an eye for an eye,'" said
bombing victim Sydney Corcoran, who nearly bled to death and whose
mother lost both legs.
Karen Brassard, who suffered shrapnel wounds on her legs, said: "We can breathe again."
Three
people were killed and more than 260 wounded when Tsarnaev and his
brother set off two shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs near the
finish line of the race on April 15, 2013. The Tsarnaevs also shot an
MIT police officer to death during their getaway.
The
12-member federal jury had to be unanimous for Tsarnaev to get the
death penalty. Otherwise, the former college student would have
automatically received a sentence of life in prison with no chance of
parole.
In weighing the arguments for and
against death, the jurors decided among other things that Tsarnaev
showed a lack of remorse. And they emphatically rejected the defense's
central argument - that he was led down the path to terrorism by his big
brother.
"Today the jury has spoken. Dzhokhar Tsrnaev will pay for his crimes with his life," said U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz.
Tsarnaev's
father, Anzor Tsarnaev, reached by phone in the Russian region of
Dagestan, let out a deep moan upon hearing the news and hung up.
Tsarnaev's lawyers had no comment as they left the courtroom.
The
attack and the ensuing manhunt paralyzed the city for days and cast a
pall over the marathon - normally one of Boston's proudest, most
exciting moments - that has yet to be lifted.
With
Friday's decision, community leaders and others talked of closure, of
relief, of resilience, of the city's Boston Strong spirit.
"Today,
more than ever, we know that Boston is a city of hope, strength and
resilience that can overcome any challenge," said Mayor Marty Walsh.
Tsarnaev
was convicted last month of all 30 charges against him, including use
of a weapon of mass destruction. Seventeen of those charges carried the
possibility of a death sentence; ultimately, the jury gave him the death
penalty on six of those counts.
Tsarnaev's
chief lawyer, death penalty specialist Judy Clarke, admitted at the very
start of the trial that he participated in the bombings, bluntly
telling the jury: "It was him."
But the
defense argued that Dzhokhar was an impressionable 19-year-old led
astray by his volatile and domineering 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan,
who was portrayed as the mastermind of the plot to punish the U.S. for
its wars in Muslim countries.
Tamerlan died days after the bombing when he was shot by police and run over by Dzhokhar during a chaotic getaway attempt.
Prosecutors
depicted Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as an equal partner in the attack, saying he
was so coldhearted he planted a bomb on the pavement behind a group of
children, killing an 8-year-old boy.
To drive
home their point, prosecutors cited the message he scrawled in the
dry-docked boat where he was captured: "Stop killing our innocent people
and we will stop." And they opened their case in the penalty phase with
a startling photo of him giving the finger to a security camera in his
jail cell months after his arrest.
"This is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev -unconcerned, unrepentant and unchanged," prosecutor Nadine Pellegrin said.
The
jurors also heard grisly and heartbreaking testimony from numerous
bombing survivors who described seeing their legs blown off or watching
someone next to them die.
Killed in the
bombing were Lingzi Lu, a 23-year-old Boston University graduate student
from China; Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager; and
8-year-old Martin Richard, who had gone to watch the marathon with his
family. Massachusetts Institute of Technology police Officer Sean
Collier was gunned down in his cruiser days later. Seventeen people lost
legs in the bombings.
The speed with which
the jury reached a decision surprised some, given that the jurors had to
fill out a detailed, 24-page worksheet in which they tallied up the
factors for and against the death penalty.
The
possible aggravating factors included the cruelty of the crime, the
killing of a child, the amount of carnage and lack of remorse. The
possible mitigating factors included Tsarnaev's age, the influence of
his brother, and his turbulent, dysfunctional family.
The
jury agreed with the prosecution on 11 of the 12 aggravating factors
cited. In weighing the mitigating factors, only three of the 12 jurors
found Tsarnaev acted under the influence of his brother.
Tsarnaev
did manage to escape a death sentence in the killing of the MIT
officer, after prosecutors admitted they do not know which brother
pulled the trigger.
Tsarnaev did not take the
stand at his trial, and he slouched through most of the case, a
seemingly bored look on his face. In his only flash of emotion during
the months-long case, he cried when his Russian aunt took the stand.
The
only evidence of any remorse on his part in the two years since the
attack came from the defense's final witness, Sister Helen Prejean, a
Roman Catholic nun and staunch death penalty opponent portrayed in the
movie "Dead Man Walking."
She quoted Tsarnaev as saying of the victims: "No one deserves to suffer like they did."
Tsarnaev's
lawyers also called teachers, friends and Russian relatives who
described him as a sweet and kind boy who cried during "The Lion King."
The defense called him a "good kid."
The
defense argued that sparing his life and sending him instead to the
high-security Supermax federal prison in Colorado would be a harsh
punishment and would help the victims move on with their lives without
having to read about years of death row appeals.
The outcome of the penalty phase was wrapped in high suspense.
Massachusetts
is a liberal, staunchly anti-death penalty state that hasn't executed
anyone since 1947, and there were fears that a death sentence for
Tsarnaev would only satisfy his desire for martyrdom. Even the grieving
parents of the 8-year-old boy publicly urged prosecutors to drop their
push for death.
But others argued that if capital punishment is to be reserved for "the worst of the worst," Tsarnaev qualifies.
U.S.
District Judge George O'Toole Jr. will formally impose the sentence at a
later date during a hearing in which bombing victims will be allowed to
speak. Tsarnaev will also be given the opportunity to address the
court.
The Tsarnaevs - ethnic Chechens - lived
in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan and the volatile Dagestan
region, near Chechnya, before moving to the U.S. about a decade before
the bombings. They settled in Cambridge, just outside Boston.
