|
 Tsarnaev, 21, is also charged with shooting a police officer to
death three days after prosecutors contend he and his older brother
set of a pair of homemade pressure-cooker bombs at the race's
crowded finish line on April 15, 2013.
The question of whether the ethnic Chechen defendant is guilty of 30
criminal counts may be the easy part of the jury's job. If they find
him guilty, the same 12 jurors will hear a second round of evidence
before determining whether to sentence Tsarnaev to death or to life
in prison without possibility of parole.
"The judgment is entirely yours," U.S. District Judge George O’Toole
told the jurors on Monday after they heard closing arguments by
prosecutors and Tsarnaev's lawyers.
Defense lawyer Judy Clarke readily admitted her client's
responsibility on Monday but contended that 26-year-old Tamerlan
Tsarnaev had been the driving force behind the attack. Tamerlan died
early on April 19, 2013 after his brother ran him over with a car at
the end of a gunfight with police.
 "Dzhokhar Tsarnaev stands ready to, by your verdict, be held
responsible for his actions," Clarke told jurors on Monday. "We
don't deny that Dzhokhar fully participated in the events, but, were
it not for Tamerlan, it would not have happened."
Prosecutors called 92 witnesses over the last month to make the case
that Tsarnaev was an equal partner with his brother in plotting the
bombings as vengeance for U.S. military campaigns in Muslim-majority
countries. The defense called just four witnesses, including an FBI
photographer who also testified for the prosecution.
[to top of second column] |
The blasts killed restaurant manager Krystle Campbell, 29, Chinese
exchange student Lingzi Lu, 23, and 8-year-old Martin Richard.
Tsarnaev is also accused of the fatal shooting of Massachusetts of
Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, 26.
Before sending the jury to deliberate on Tsarnaev’s guilt, O’Toole
told jurors that they should not be guided by their emotions in
returning a verdict, referring to the photos and videos of carnage
that the prosecution has shown throughout the trial.
"Those are, of course, difficult to look at," the judge said. "But
you should not let any photographs stir up emotions, such that they
override your careful and rational assessment of the evidence."
(Editing by Scott Malone)
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