WILL TSARNAEV RECEIVE THE DEATH PENALTY?
NOW THE REAL QUESTION: SHOULD HE DIE?
The real trial is about to begin in the Boston Marathon bombing case.
On Wednesday, a federal jury found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, guilty on all 30 charges for his part in the twin blasts two years ago. Three people died, and more than 260 were wounded.
Judge George O’Toole said the sentencing hearing will begin early next week, but he didn’t specify a day. At issue: Will Tsar- naev be executed or serve life in prison without parole?
Tsarnaev’s lawyer, Judy Clarke, never denied her client was involved in the attack. She crafted her trial defense to lay the blame on Tsarnaev’s older brother, Tamerlan, who died during a shootout with police when Dzhokhar ran over him. In her portrayal, Tamerlan was the mastermind. On the trial’s first day, Clarke acknowledged that her client had coordinated with Tamerlan. She called just four witnesses; none suggested Tsarnaev was innocent.
“We are not asking you to go easy on Dzhokhar,” Clarke said in her closing argument. His actions “deserve to be condemned.”
The defense could avoid a death sentence if Clarke’s team can persuade even one juror to hold out for life imprisonment.
“In some ways, the defense has a slight advantage” in the penalty phase, Rosanno Cavallaro, a Suffolk University Law School professor, said in an email. “The focus shifts to him ... and (his) relationship with his brother, all new information, whereas the prosecution must necessarily repeat some of its evidence.”
The defense most likely notched a few successes in building rapport with the jury, Boston College Law School professor Robert Bloom said. Lawyers probably built trust by declining to challenge evidence against Tsarnaev or to cross-examine victims, he said. Tsarnaev’s lawyers presented fingerprint analysis and other evidence to suggest his brother was the leader who did the research, bought components and assembled the explosives.