AFTER BOMBER’S CONVICTION, JURY TO DECIDE LIFE OR DEATH
BY DENISE LAVOIE
AP LEGAL AFFAIRS WRITER
BOSTON (AP) — 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.