Boston Marathon Bomber Guilty of all 30 Counts

The jury for the Boston Marathon bombing case has found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty of the 30 counts, 17 of which carry the death penalty as a sentence. The charges included conspiring and using a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, conspiracy to bomb a place of public use, and use or carry of a firearm during crime of violence among others, This will result in the same jury to decide whether or not to sentence Tsarnaev to either life in prison or the death penalty. The sentencing trial date has yet to be announced.

The state of Massachusetts has abolished capital punishment in the early 1980’s and has not performed an execution since 1947. However, because Tsarnaev has been convicted of federal crimes, he is eligible for the death penalty. His defense team has the arduous task of presenting to the jury mitigating circumstances to try and prevent Tsarnaev from receiving the death penalty.

His lawyers will argue that his young age, 19, no prior criminal record and that his elder brother Tamerlan was actually the mastermind behind the bombing, should result in him receiving life in prison over the death penalty.

The Boston bombing occurred nearly two years ago and resulted in three deaths, 240 wounded, and 17 people losing their limbs.

The jury deliberated for nearly 12 hours before finding Tsarnaev guilty on all counts. Federal prosecutors have called 92 witnesses while the defense lead by Judy Clarke called four witnesses.

During the sentencing portion of the trial Clarke will try to argue that bombing was “a path born of his brother, created by his brother and paved by his brother,” in an attempt to try and spare her client from execution. Meanwhile the prosecution will argue the same narrative that it has been painting since the beginning of the trial: that the Tsarnaev brothers acted as a team in roles of equal responsibility.