A Boston federal court jury convicted Tsarnaev, 21, of 30 federal charges in connection with the April 15, 2013, bombing that brought mayhem and unspeakable horror to one of the world’s most-famous races.
Seventeen of the charges carry the possibility of the death penalty, including use of weapon of mass destruction, and the same jury will decide whether Tsarnaev lives or dies in deliberations expected to begin as early as Monday, according to the Associated Press.
Tsarnaev did not testify during the monthlong trial and sat silently at the defense table throughout the proceedings, the AP said.
Tsarnaev’s defense was aimed at sparing his life, with his attorneys admitting his involvement but suggesting he was under the influence of his older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed while the two were trying to escape the area.
In fact, lead defense attorney Judy Clarke repeatedly called Tsarnaev “kid” and “teenager,” suggesting the then 19-year-old was being directed by his 26-year-old sibling, who had become attracted to radical Islam.
“If not for Tamerlan, it would not have happened,” Clarke said.
The defense called only four witnesses in its presentation, which took less than two days.
Prosecutors called 92 witnesses, many of them victims who had lost limbs or seen friends killed or injured in the bombing, the AP said.
The two homemade pressure-cooker bombs packed with shrapnel exploded near the finish line, killing 8-year-old Martin Richard, whose body was blown apart by the bomb, 23-year-old Boston University graduate student Lingzi-Lu and 29-year-old restaurant manager Krystle Campbell from nearby Medford.
Tsarnaev also was convicted of killing Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, who was slain in a shootout with the brothers in Watertown as they tried to escape.
“It’s not a happy occasion, but it’s something,” injured victim Karen Brassard told the AP.
“One more step behind us,”she said.
Brassard, who attended the trial despite suffering shrapnel wounds in the explosions, said she thought Tsarnaev seemed “arrogant” and did not show any remorse, even as the verdicts were read.
“He was in college; he was a grown man who knew what the consequences would be,” Brassard said.
“I believe he was ‘all in’ with the brother,” she said.
Tsarnaev had left a note in the Watertown backyard where he was captured saying that the bombings were retribution for U.S. attacks on predominantly Moslem countries around the world.
“Stop killing our innocent people and we will stop,” the note said.
Reached at his home in the Russian Federation, Tsarnaev’s father, Anzor Tsarnaev, refused to comment on the verdicts, the AP said.
But Collier’s family said in a written statement that they welcomed the verdict, the AP said.
“The strength and bond that everyone has shown during these last two years proves that if these terrorists thought that they would somehow strike fear in the hearts of people, they monumentally failed,” the statement said.
