WATCH ABOVE: It’s now a matter of life and death for 21-year-old Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The jury convicted Tsarnaev on all 30 counts against him Wednesday, on its second day of deliberations. Kris Van Cleave has the latest.
TORONTO – Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty on all 30 counts in the case of the Boston Marathon bombing on Wednesday.
Now, a jury will have to decide whether his actions warrant the death penalty.
Seventeen of the 30 charges are punishable by death. The jury will now be reconvened for another trial where both the defence and prosecution can call witnesses and present evidence. The jury will have to decide whether Tsarnaev should be executed, or spend life in prison without parole.
A date for that trial has not been set.
Tsarnaev, now 21 years old, was found guilty of conspiring with his brother, Tamerlan to bomb the 2013 marathon. Three people were killed and more than 260 others injured when twin pressure-cooker bombs exploded near the finish line. Tamerlan was killed days later during a shootout with police.
In order to avoid the death penalty, Tsarnaev’s lawyer Judy Clarke, only has to convince one juror the death penalty isn’t necessary.
Death sentences have to be unanimous in the United States, meaning only one juror has to vote for life in prison.
WATCH: It’s now a matter of life and death for 21-year-old Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The jury convicted Tsarnaev on all 30 counts against him Wednesday, on its second day of deliberations. Kris Van Cleave has the latest.
What do the jurors have to decide?
During what’s called the “penalty phase” of the trial, jurors will be shown mitigating evidence which lawyers hope will keep Tsarnaev from receiving a death sentence. These could include hardships he’s faced, his relationship with his brother who was considered the mastermind of the attack, and his childhood.
At the same time, prosecutors will present aggravating factors – including the targeting of the Boston Marathon, where there was a significant number of possible victims.
WATCH: A victim of the Boston Marathon bombings say she “doesn’t know what justice is.”
Geographic Difficulties
That might be difficult in the northeastern state.
Thirty-two states have abolished the death penalty, including Massachusetts. Tsarnaev’s crimes however are federal crimes, meaning he can still be executed.
And the majority of Bostonians who responded to a 2013 poll opposed executing Tsarnaev. The poll, published in the Boston Globe, suggested 57 per cent of those polled preferred Tsarnaev receive life in prison rather than the death penalty.
Tsarnaev’s lawyer, Judy Clarke, is also one of the country’s top death penalty lawyers, having kept Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Susan Smith, the woman who drowned her children in 1994, from death row.
- With files from the Associated Press
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