Boston jury left to decide life or death
BOSTON — Now that a jury has convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on all charges, even more is at stake in the next phase of the federal trial: The same 12 people must decide whether the 21-year-old lives or dies.
Tsarnaev was found guilty Wednesday of 30 counts against him, including conspiracy and deadly use of a weapon of mass destruction. Seventeen of those charges are punishable by death.
The verdict was considered practically a foregone conclusion since Tsarnaev’s lawyer admitted he participated in the bombings.
The former college student was found responsible for the deaths of three people who died in the bombings as well as the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer who was gunned down days later as Tsarnaev and his now-dead brother, Tamerlan, attempted to flee.
In addition to the people who were killed, more than 260 others were injured when twin pressure-cooker bombs packed with shrapnel exploded near the marathon’s finish line on April 15, 2013, turning the traditionally celebratory home stretch of the world-famous race into a scene of carnage.
The defense lawyers, who barely cross-examined the prosecution’s witnesses during the first part of the trial, are expected to become much more aggressive during the penalty phase, when they will make a case that Tsarnaev’s life should be spared.
The defense gave a preview of its case during the trial when it insisted the then 19-year-old Tsarnaev was strongly influenced by his radicalized older brother, who was said to have masterminded the attack.
Tsarnaev’s lawyers are expected to continue that theme, but also to explore the brothers’ relationship more deeply and perhaps bring in evidence about Tsarnaev’s life in Russia and the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, where the family lived before moving to the U.S. about a decade before the bombings. The defense can present any mitigating evidence it believes will persuade the jury life in prison is the appropriate punishment rather than death.
Legal analysts said they don’t expect the defense case to contain any new revelations about Tsarnaev.
“The crime is so horrific that they don’t have much else really to point to, other than his age and the influence of his older brother,” said Dan Collins, a former federal prosecutor who handled the case against a suspect in the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.
“At this point, it’s going to be the life experiences and the perspectives of the jurors in deciding whether or not they believe that these points are strong enough that his life should be spared,” he said.
Meg Penrose, a death penalty expert and professor at Texas A&M University School of Law, said it will be difficult for the jury to overcome the image of Tsarnaev planting a bomb just feet behind a group of children, including 8-year-old Martin Richard, who was killed.
“I haven’t yet heard all the mitigating factors you’d expect to hear. In traditional death penalty cases, it’s physical abuse, sexual abuse, drug abuse, dropping out of school,” she said.
“In a crime of this magnitude, what American citizen wouldn’t ask, ‘What would drive a person to do this?’ And, as a juror, the question becomes, what answer would satisfy you?”
During the penalty phase, which could begin as early as Monday, prosecutors will provide evidence of aggravating factors they believe support the death penalty.
