Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (Photo : REUTERS/JANE FLAVELL COLLINS)
Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, was expressionless and speechless when the death penalty verdict against him was announced on May 15, Friday. He just sat in his chair and swallowed as United States District Judge George O'Toole thanked jury members.
The jury's decision to execute the bomber refuted his lawyers' argument that his radicalized Muslim older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev just pulled him into the plot. The death penalty verdict also overcame the popular opposition of Massachusetts.
Becoming the youngest person on federal death row, Dzhokhar is expected to be in the U.S. Bureau of Prison's death row in Terra Haute, Indiana, after O'Toole formally sentences him. There, he may attempt an appeals process that could last years before his death by lethal injection, according to NBC News.
During the Boston marathon bombing on April 15, 2013, twin blasts killed three spectators and injured more than 260 others. It was the worst act of terrorism in America since 9/11.
"I know that there is still a long road ahead and there are going to be many, many, many more dates," Boston marathon bombing survivor Karen Brassard told Boston Herald. "But right now it feels like we can take a breath and kind of actually breathe again."
For Massport Fire Lt. Michael Ward, one of the first emergency responders to arrive at the Boston Marathon finish line to help Boston marathon bombing victims, the announcement of the death penalty verdict against Dzhokhar is "nothing to celebrate" as it is "a matter of justice."
