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Dzhokar Tsarnaev guilty on all charges

Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been convicted on all 30 federal charges he faced in...
Newstalk
Newstalk

19.44 8 Apr 2015


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Dzhokar Tsarnaev guilty on all...

Dzhokar Tsarnaev guilty on all charges

Newstalk
Newstalk

19.44 8 Apr 2015


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Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been convicted on all 30 federal charges he faced in connection with the deadly attacks.

The 21-year-old did not react as the jury read out the guilty verdicts in front of victims' relatives and survivors of the 15 April 2013 bombings that killed three people and injured 264 others.

Tsarnaev was also found guilty of the fatal shooting of MIT police officer Sean Collier.

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Seventeen of the 30 charges carry a possible death sentence.

Jurors will determine sentencing upon completion of a penalty phase, during which the panel will hear additional testimony.

The defence has not indicated whether Tsarnaev will take the stand during the second phase of the trial.

His attorneys acknowledged at the trial's outset that he carried out the attacks with his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed following a gun battle with police.

Jurors took a little more than 11 hours over the course of two days to reach a verdict. The panel reached its decision one week shy of the bombings' second anniversary.

Family members of victims along with survivors of the attacks remained quiet as the verdict was read in court on Wednesday.

Krystle Campbell, 29, Lingzi Lu, 23, and eight-year-old Martin Richard were killed in the bombings.

During the trial, the defence attempted to convince jurors that Tsarnaev was pressured into carrying out the attacks by his radicalised brother.

Their aim was to prove the elder Tsarnaev masterminded the bombings in a bid to spare their client the death penalty.

Over the course of several weeks, the jury heard testimony from friends and family of those killed in the attacks and from more than a dozen people who lost limbs as a result of the bombings.

The panel even heard from police officers who described exchanging gunfire and dodging homemade explosive devices thrown by the Tsarnaev brothers as they attempted to flee the city.

In closing arguments, the prosecution said the Tsarnaev brothers wanted to "punish America" for its wars in Muslim countries.

Prosecutors showed the court images of a blood-stained message Tsarnaev scrawled on the inside of a boat, where he was found hiding days after the attacks.

The bullet-riddled message said: "The US Government is killing our innocent civilians but most of you already know that.

"As a M (bullet hole) I can't stand to see such evil go unpunished, we Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all.

"Now I don't like killing innocent people it is forbidden in Islam but due to said (bullet hole) it is allowed."

The defence, which called just four witnesses in presenting its case, said in closing arguments that the evidence showed Tamerlan Tsarnaev was the leader of the plot.

"Tamerlan built the bombs, Tamerlan murdered Officer Collier, Tamerlan lead and Dzhokhar followed," defence attorney Judith Clarke said.


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