‘ Justice would be the death penalty’

Faces execution as jurors convict on 30 counts

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ( right), the Boston Marathon bomber responsible for the deaths of four victims ( left), was convicted yesterday — and should be executed, said the mom of two brothers who were maimed.

His classmates were no more forgiving. “He should get the death penalty,” said one.

Boston bombing survivors and the families of the four people killed will forever be haunted by that horrific day in 2013 — but Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s conviction Wednesday at least delivered some measure of healing.

“We’re all going to move on with our lives and we’re all going to get back to some sense of normalcy, hopefully, when this is all done,” Karen Brassard, who was injured in the blast, said outside the Boston courthouse.

“We’re grateful for the outcome today,” added Brassard, 53, speaking on behalf of the victims and her fellow survivors. “It’s not a happy occasion. I’m grateful to have him off the street.”

Brassard’s husband and daughter were also injured.

“It’s not something that’ll ever be over. You’ll feel it forever,” she said.

But Wednesday’s guilty verdict brought many of those affected most by the bombings some consolation.

“Today’s verdict will never replace the lives that were lost and so dramatically changed, but it is a relief and one step closer to closure,” Jeff Bauman, who lost both legs in the blast, wrote in a statement he posted on Facebook.

The family of slain MIT Police Officer Sean Collier wrote in a statement: “We are thankful that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be held accountable for the evil that he brought to somany families.

“The strength and bond that everyone has shown during these last two years proves that if these terrorists thought that they would somehow strike fear in the hearts of people, they monumentally failed.”

While the families talked about healing, some students and staff at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth — where the bomber was enrolled at the time — said he deserved a death sentence.

“He should get the death penalty,” Cassandra McNamara, 21, a senior from Millville, Mass., told SouthCoastToday.com. “He should suffer the same fate that his victims had to.”

Annette Conrad, an administrative assistant at the school, told the Web site, “His victims didn’t get to choose life or death, why should he?”

The lengthy trial has also been part of a healing process for many of the survivors, who sat in the courtroom throughout the trial.

“I’m grateful that we did it because I think it will help the jury make a fair decision” in the penalty phase, Brassard said.

None of her fellow survivors was surprised with Tsarnaev’s lack of reaction to the verdict.

“I didn’t expect anything at all,” Brassard said. “I would have been more frustrated if he had shown it, because throughout this whole thing, he’s been— to usemy word— arrogant walking in and out of the courtroom.”