Tsarnaev found guilty in Marathon bombing, will face death penalty

[spookyturtle 9,465]

There wasn't much doubt he would be convicted, the death penalty was a bit up in the air.

BOSTON (AP) -

A jury has found Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty on count 1 and he will now face the death penalty for this and other charges.

The verdict is expected to be announced shortly in U.S. District Court. Lawyers and survivors of the bombing are gathering in court.

The verdict was reached Wednesday afternoon after a little over 12 hours of deliberations over two days.

Tsarnaev's lawyers admitted he participated in the bombings, but said his now-dead older brother was the driving force behind the 2013 deadly attack.

The jury was asked to decide 30 charges against Tsarnaev, including using a weapon of mass destruction.

If the jury convicts Tsarnaev, it will move on to a second phase of the trial to decide whether he should receive the death penalty or spend the rest of his life in prison.

Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured when twin pressure-cooker bombs exploded near the marathon finish line on April 15, 2013.

http://www.whdh.com/story/28752237/verdict-reached-in-boston-marathon-bombing-trial

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Upadate:

BOSTON (AP) - Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted Wednesday in the Boston Marathon bombing by a federal jury that now must decide whether the 21-year-old former college student should be executed.

Tsarnaev kept his hands folded in front of him and looked down at the defense table as listened to the verdict, reached after a day and a half of deliberations. He was found guilty on charges that included conspiracy and use of a weapon of mass destruction -- offenses punishable by death.

His conviction was practically a foregone conclusion, given his lawyer's startling admission during opening statements that Tsarnaev carried out the attack with his now-dead older brother, Tamerlan.

The two shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs that exploded near the finish line on April 15, 2013, killed three spectators and wounded more than 260 other people, turning the traditionally celebratory home stretch of the world-famous race into a scene of carnage and putting the city on edge for days.

In the next phase of the trial, the jury will hear evidence on whether Tsarnaev should get the death penalty or spend the rest of his life in prison.

In a bid to save Tsarnaev from a death sentence, defense attorney Judy Clarke has argued that Tsarnaev, then 19, fell under the influence of his radicalized brother. Tamerlan, 26, died when he was shot by police and run over by his brother during a chaotic getaway attempt days after the bombing.

"If not for Tamerlan, it would not have happened," Clarke told the jury during closing arguments.

Prosecutors, however, portrayed the brothers -- ethnic Chechens who moved to the U.S. from Russia more than a decade ago -- as full partners in a plan to punish the U.S. for its wars in Muslim countries. Jihadist writings, lectures and videos were found on both their computers, though the defense argued that Tamerlan downloaded the material and sent it to his brother.

The government called 92 witnesses over 15 days, painting a hellish scene of torn-off limbs, blood-spattered pavement, ghastly screams and the smell of sulfur and burned hair. Survivors gave heartbreaking testimony about losing legs in the blasts or watching people die. The father of an 8-year-old boy described making the agonizing decision to leave his mortally wounded son so he could get help for their 6-year-old daughter, whose leg had been blown off.

Killed were Lingzi Lu, a 23-year-old Chinese graduate student at Boston University; Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager; and Martin Richard, the 8-year-old. Massachusetts Institute of Technology police Officer Sean Collier was shot and killed during the brothers' getaway attempt.

Some of the most damning evidence included video showing Tsarnaev planting a backpack containing one of the bombs near where the 8-year-old was standing, and incriminating statements scrawled inside the dry-docked boat where a wounded and bleeding Tsarnaev was captured days after the tragedy.

"Stop killing our innocent people and we will stop," he wrote.

Tsarnaev's lawyers barely cross-examined the government's witnesses and called just four people to the stand over less than two days, all in an effort to portray the older brother as the guiding force in the plot.

Witnesses testified about phone records that showed Dzhokhar was at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth while his brother was buying bomb components, including pressure cookers and BBs. A forensics expert said Tamerlan's computer showed search terms such as "detonator," "transmitter and receiver," while Dzhokhar was largely spending time on Facebook and other social media sites.

Also, an FBI investigator said Tamerlan's fingerprints -- but not Dzhokhar's -- were found on pieces of the two bombs.

Clarke is one of the nation's foremost death-penalty specialists and has kept other high-profile defendants off death row. She saved the lives of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who drowned her two children in a lake in 1994.

Tsarnaev's lawyers tried repeatedly to get the trial moved out of Boston because of the heavy publicity and the widespread trauma. But opposition to capital punishment is strong in Massachusetts, which abolished its state death penalty in 1984, and some polls have suggested a majority of Bostonians do not want to see Tsarnaev sentenced to die.

During the penalty phase, Tsarnaev's lawyers will present so-called mitigating evidence they hope will save his life. That could include evidence about his family, his relationship with his brother, and his childhood in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan and later in the volatile Dagestan region of Russia.

Prosecutors will present so-called aggravating factors in support of the death penalty, including the killing of a child and the targeting of the marathon because of the potential for maximum bloodshed.

http://www.whdh.com/story/28752237/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-convicted-in-boston-marathon-bombing

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Local news links:

http://www.whdh.com/

http://boston.cbslocal.com/

http://www.wcvb.com/

[Sousuke 1,214]

Life in Prison hopefully

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Life in Prison hopefully

He'll never see the light of day again. His lawyer's specialty is avoiding the death penalty and that is the best his defense team can hope for. And on a side note, The jury has the Hernandez case as of yesterday. I'm not so sure what that outcome will be.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I think he will get the death penalty.

[GandD 5,966]

So do I. I guess some people will get some sense of justice. But what's lost is lost. Nothing changes that.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

So do I. I guess some people will get some sense of justice. But what's lost is lost. Nothing changes that.

Glenn Plummer had a saying in the movie South Central that I remember to this day:

"If you hit a man in his face, in time, his wounds will heal. And later on, you can apologize to that man. If you steal his goods, later on, you can return those goods, or you can repay him equal value. But if you kill... there is no later on. There's no way to repair it with that man. There's no way to make it right with him or his family. His life is gone forever. You never come back from that."

[spookyturtle 9,465]

This is a Boston Jury, and informal polls show that most people in MA want life imprisonment as there is fairly strong opposition to the death penalty period. I guess we may know sometime next week which way it will go.

[GandD 5,966]

Spooks, am I correct in assuming there's no death penalty in mass?

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Spooks, am I correct in assuming there's no death penalty in mass?

There has been no death penalty here since 1984 and I think the last execution was in 1947. But since this is a Federal case, the jury can vote for the death penalty, but it must be unanimous. One dissenter and it's life in prison. I for it wasn't so horrific and slaughter of innocent people, I would guess life. But this case really hit the heart of the state, so you never know. But again, all it takes is one juror to make it a life sentence.

[Pooky 3,343]

Massachusetts may be against the death penalty, per se, but the sentiment around this case and the harm that was done, both physical and otherwise, may persuade the jury to go with the ultimate penalty.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I hope that the MA jury will show that there are civilized humans in this country. The death penalty solves nothing and it doesn't bring a single one of the victims back. Nor does it repair or heal any of the wounds that were caused by this ####### and his brother caused. It really does only one thing: it pulls this country down to their level. We should want to be better than that.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Massachusetts may be against the death penalty, per se, but the sentiment around this case and the harm that was done, both physical and otherwise, may persuade the jury to go with the ultimate penalty.

I can see this happening as this case really hit the heart of the city and state.

I hope that the MA jury will show that there are civilized humans in this country. The death penalty solves nothing and it doesn't bring a single one of the victims back. Nor does it repair or heal any of the wounds that were caused by this ####### and his brother caused. It really does only one thing: it pulls this country down to their level. We should want to be better than that.

I can see the point of not dropping down to their level. In a way, the death penalty ends it for him quickly where life in prison gives him a continuous, drawn out punishment. He's a smartass 21 year old today. How will he feel when he.'s been in solitary for 40 years or so?

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I can see this happening as this case really hit the heart of the city and state.

I can see the point of not dropping down to their level. In a way, the death penalty ends it for him quickly where life in prison gives him a continuous, drawn out punishment. He's a smartass 21 year old today. How will he feel when he.'s been in solitary for 40 years or so?

That's if they put him in solitary. He might wind up in Gen Pop. And he'd be on death row for about a decade before they execute him. So either way, his future is dismal at best.