Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sentenced to death
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Version 0 of 1. A Boston jury has said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should be put to death for his role in setting off bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Tsarnaev had previously been found guilty on all 30 charges he faced, 17 of which could bring the death penalty. In the sentencing phase, the same jury had to decide whether to sentence Tsarnaev to death or to send him to prison for the rest of his life. With Friday’s verdict, the jury has recommended Tsarnaev be put to death, pending appeals. It could be years of appeals before he is put to death, if the decision is not overturned. US Attorney General Loretta Lynch called the death penalty a “fitting punishment” shortly after the sentence was handed down. Throughout the sentencing phase, the defence called on witnesses who asked the jury to spare Tsarnaev’s life, including Sister Helen Prejean, the famous anti-death penalty nun who inspired the movie Dead Man Walking. Some families of victims of the bombing have said they wanted life in prison for Tsarnaev rather than the death penalty. The prosecution painted Tsarnaev as a remorseless terrorist who deserved to be put to death for the bombing. Three people were killed in the 2013 bombing and more than 260 were injured. After the bombing, a subsequent manhunt shut down Boston and grabbed the nation’s attention. Tsarnaev eventually was found bloody inside a boat in the backyard of a residential neighbourhood. During the first phase of the trial that began earlier this year, Tsarnaev's defence team did not dispute the fact that their client played a role in the bombing, but said he was brainwashed by older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died days after the bombing in a shootout with police. The defence painted Tamerlan as the mastermind behind the bombing, with the younger Dzhokhar naively following along. Tsarnaev was found guilty of charges that include conspiracy and use of a weapon of mass destruction, both of which were punishable by death.
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