Dzhokhar Tsarnaev found guilty of all 30 charges in deadly attack
Almost two years after two pressure-cooker bombs exploded through a crowd of spectators near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon, a Massachusetts federal jury found 21-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty of all charges for his role in the deadly blasts on Wednesday, April 8.
The attack killed three (including an 8-year-old) and injured nearly 300 people, leading up to the fatal shooting of MIT police officer Sean Collier days after the attack, which Tsarnaev was also charged for.
“We unanimously find the defendant Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev guilty,” the court clerk announced to a courtroom full of victims and survivors on Wednesday.
The decision came a day and a half after the jury began deliberations in the first phase of the trial, after hearing 17 days of emotional and gruesome testimony and presented evidence in the case. Jurors repeatedly saw horrific photos and videos of the explosion and its bloody aftermath, and heard heart-wrenching testimony from survivors—including the father of the youngest victim of the attacks, 8-year-old Martin Richard, whose body was literally blown apart by the second pressure bomb.
Federal prosecutors painted Tsarnaev as a “heartless killer” who conspired with his older brother, Tamerlan, to “maim and kill Americans in retaliation for the country’s wars on Muslim countries overseas.”
“This was a cold, calculated terrorist act,” said Government Prosecutor Aloke Chakravarty on Monday, April 6. “It was intentional, it was bloodthirsty; it was to make a point. It was to tell America that ‘We will not be terrorized by you anymore. We will terrorize you.’”
Tsarnaev faced 30 charges for his role alongside older brother Tamerlan, who was killed in a police chase mere hours after the FBI released photos of the brothers identifying them as suspects in the attacks. He was also charged with shooting and killing MIT officer Sean Collier; though prosecutors acknowledged that they were unsure which brother pulled the trigger, they argued both were “equally guilty” of Collier’s murder.
The government called over 90 witnesses to the stand over 15 days. The verdict did not come as a surprise to many.
Tsarnaev’s attorney Judy Clarke admitted her client’s guilt on the first day of trial, which began on March 5, and reiterated it during the closing arguments: “There is no excuse. No one is trying to make one. [The attack was] inexcusable and senseless.”
The defense tried to cast Tsarnaev, who was 19 at the time, as a “troubled teenager” who was influenced by his radicalized older brother, whom they painted as the plot’s “ringleader.” They argued that Tamerlan schemed the attack and built the bombs, and his brother was just following.
“We don’t deny that Dzhokhar fully participated in the events,” Clarke said. “But, if not for Tamerlan, it wouldn’t have happened.”
Judge George O’Toole limited how much the defense could talk about Tamerlan’s influence on his younger brother during the trial’s guilt phase. The defense rested its case after just four witnesses and the bloody, graphic evidence presented over a day and a half in court. Clarke told jurors the defense would lay out more of their case in the impending penalty phase—when they determine whether Dzokhar will receive life in prison without the possibility of parole, or a permanent seat on Death Row.
After the verdict was read, Judge O’Toole told the jurors to have caution and not discuss the case, and that trial would now proceed to a second penalty phase that could begin as early as next week.
A recent poll by National Public Radio in Boston conducted after the trial began found that a majority of Boston residents believe Tsarnaev should receive life in prison, instead of the death penalty. The bombing victims’ families have offered mixed opinions about what they think should happen, but all are hoping for justice.
(With reports from New York Times, Yahoo News)
