|
 Tsarnaev, 21, could be sentenced to death if he is convicted of
charges that also include the fatal shooting of a police officer
three days after prosecutors contend he and his older brother
carried out the April 15, 2013, attack.
Defense lawyers opened the trial with the blunt admission that their
client had carried out the crimes he is charged with, focusing their
hopes on the jury sentencing him to life in prison rather than
death.
They contend that 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev was the driving
force behind the attacks, and that his younger sibling followed
along out of a sense of subservience.
 In its first seven days of testimony, the trial at U.S. District
Court in Boston has moved along at a blistering pace, with
prosecutors working their way trough 58 witnesses and defense
attorneys declining to cross-examine most who testified.
When prosecutors wrap their case, it will be the defense's turn to
call witnesses of its own, which could include Tsarnaev. After that,
the jury will consider Tsarnaev's guilt and if he is found guilty, a
second phase of the trial will play out that will focus on
sentencing.
[to top of second column] |
The bombing killed restaurant manager Krystle Campbell, 29, and
graduate student Lingzi Lu, 23, as well as 8-year-old Martin
Richard. Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean
Collier, 27, was shot dead three days later.
(Reporting by Scott Malone)
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