Boston bomber found guilty
Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces the death penalty after a jury unanimously convicted him Wednesday of carrying out the worst attack in the United States since the 9/11 hijackings.
The jury took a day and a half to find the 21-year-old former student guilty on all 30 counts related to the April 15, 2013 attacks, the murder of a police officer, a car jacking and a shootout while on the run.
The Muslim immigrant of Chechen descent, who took US citizenship in 2012, stood in a dark blazer, occasionally fidgeting and hooking one hand into his trouser pocket as the clerk read out the verdict.
He now faces life in prison without parole or even the death penalty when he is sentenced by the same jury at the second phase of the trial, which could start early next week, Judge George O'Toole told the court.
Survivors, including the parents of eight-year-old Martin Richard who was killed in the attacks, crammed into the gallery to hear the verdict as a strict security cordon was set up outside in the biting wind and sleet.
Three people were killed and 264 others wounded, including 17 who lost limbs, in the twin blasts at the city's marathon nearly two years ago.
Tsarnaev went on the run and was arrested four days later, hiding and injured in a boat on which he had scrawled a bloody message apparently justifying the attacks to avenge the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Survivors welcomed the verdict and thanked the jury after a harrowing month-long trial of grisly videos of the horror after the attacks, and heartbreaking testimony from those who lost limbs and loved ones.
The attacks shocked the relatively small northeastern city of Boston and revived fears of terrorism in the United States after the September 11, 2001 strikes on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Seventeen of Tsarnaev's convictions carry the death penalty, and the second phase of the trial is likely to prove far more contentious.
Massachusetts has not executed anyone since 1947, and Catholic bishops in the state this week reiterated their opposition to the death penalty.
At trial, government prosecutors portrayed Tsarnaev as a callous terrorist who carried out the bombings to punish the United States, living a double life as a 19-year-old enrolled at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
Tsarnaev's lawyers admitted that he planted one of the pressure-cooker bombs, but said he was a feckless accomplice, bullied or manipulated into taking part by his more radical elder brother, who was killed on the run.
The prosecution said he was self-radicalized as early as high school and was captivated by the teachings of US-Yemen cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a drone strike in 2011.
'America is the terrorist'
The mother of the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has branded America the "terrorist” in a message defending her son, it has been reported.
A family friend said Tsarnaeva, a Russian native, sent a note in Russian to him insisting that her son is “the best of the best,” according to Vocativ.
“America is the terrorist and everyone knows it! My son is the best of the best. I embrace everyone and thank you!”
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