US Jury Sentences Boston Marathon Bomber to Death

In this courtroom sketch, convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzokhar Tsarnaev stands as he is sentenced to death at the United States courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 15 May 2015. Photo: EPA

An US federal jury sentenced on Friday Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombers, to death.

The ruling constitutes the first instance in the post-9/11 era in which federal prosecutors win a death penalty in a terrorism case, the CNN reports.

Tsarnaev could be sent to death row in Terre Haute in Indiana, but his final destination will not be known until a judge formally sentences him in court.

The jury deliberated for more than 14 hours over the space of three days before reaching the decision on death sentence.

Jurors had to decide between a life imprisonment or death sentence for Tsarnaev, who was convicted in April.

He was found guilty of planting the second of two pressure cookers, which caused the explosion on Boylston Street near the finish line of the marathon on 15 April 2013.

The homemade bombs, assembled from pressure cookers loaded with gunpowder and nails claimed the lives of three people and injured at least 240 people, 17 of them losing limbs.

The other bomb was planted by the brother of Dzhokhar, Tamerlan, who was killed in a shooting with police, which occurred several days after the bombing as the brothers were on the run.

The trial took 59 court days with more than 150 witnesses testifying before a jury of twelve people.

 

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