Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death Friday for his role in the detonation of two powerful pressure cooker bombs in a festive crowd near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, a terror attack intended to strike a blow against the United States that killed three people and injured more than 260 others.
A promising immigrant college student who had veered sharply towards radical jihad, Tsarnaev, 21, was convicted last month in US District Court in Boston of 17 charges that carried the possibility of the death penalty.
A seven-woman, five-man jury took 14 1/2 hours to render its decision, sentencing Tsarnaev Friday to death on six of his convictions.
Boston US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said Tsarnaev’s sentence was “fair and just’’ and it showed that Americans are “not intimidated by acts of terror or radical ideas.”
“This was not a religious crime,’’ Ortiz said. “It was a political crime designed to intimidate and coerce the United States. ... Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will pay with his life for this crime.’’
Tsarnaev’s defense team, which included prominent death penalty defenders, had no comment.
Wearing a blazer and a collared shirt, Tsarnaev, as has been his habit for most of the trial, had a blank expression as a court clerk read the death sentence.
No comments:
Post a Comment