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 The 21-year-old ethnic Chechen, who had not testified during his
trial, referred to Allah and admitted that he and his now-dead older
brother carried out one of the highest-profile attacks on U.S. soil,
in a courtroom packed with survivors of the April 15, 2013 bombing.
"I am sorry for the lives I have taken, for the suffering that I
have caused you, for the damage I have done, irreparable damage,"
said Tsarnaev, who had sat in silence, his head cast down as two
survivors and family members of victims described the attacks' heavy
toll on their lives.
"In case there is any doubt, I am guilty of this attack, along with
my brother," Tsarnaev said, standing at the defense table.
Tsarnaev had been found guilty killing three people and injuring 264
in the bombing near the finish line of the world-renowned race, as
well as fatally shooting a police officer three days later. The same
federal jury that convicted him in April voted for death by lethal
injection in May.
As he handed down that sentence, U.S. District Judge George O'Toole
condemned Tsarnaev for falling under the spell of militant
Islamists, including American-born al Qaeda figure Anwar al Awlaki,
who was killed in a 2011 drone strike.
 "It is tragic ... that you succumbed to their demonic siren song,"
O'Toole said. "As long as your name is mentioned, what will be
remembered is the evil you've done."
Before the judge pronounced the sentence, Rebekah Gregory, who lost
her left leg on that blood-soaked April day, addressed Tsarnaev
directly.
"Terrorists like you do two things in this world. One, they create
mass destruction, but the second is quite interesting," Gregory
said. "Because do you know what mass destruction really does? It
brings people together. We are Boston strong and we are America
strong, and choosing to mess with us was a terrible idea.
DARK MEMORIES
Tsarnaev's trial brought back some of Boston's darkest living
memories. Jurors saw videos of the bombs' blinding flashes and the
chaotic aftermath as emergency workers and spectators rushed to aid
the wounded, many of whom lost legs.
Three people died in the bombing: Martin Richard, 8, Chinese
exchange student Lingzi Lu, 26, and restaurant manager Krystle
Campbell, 29. Three days later, Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old
brother, Tamerlan, shot dead Massachusetts Institute of Technology
police officer Sean Collier, 26.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev died following a gunfight with police that ended
when Dzhokhar ran him over with a car.
During the trial, federal prosecutors described the brothers as
adherents of al Qaeda's militant Islamist ideology who wanted to
"punish America" with the attack on the world-renowned marathon.
Tsarnaev's attorneys admitted their client had played a role in the
attack but tried to portray him as the junior partner in a scheme
hatched and driven by his older brother. The Tsarnaev family came to
the United States from Russia a decade before the attack.
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Boston has been on high alert since the attack and its aftermath.
Police were out in force around the waterfront courthouse all day
Wednesday.
At midday, Boston Police arrested a man outside the courthouse, and
said he had a meat cleaver in his possession.
"In today's threat environment, you can't overlook anything,"
Vincent Lisi, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's top agent in
Boston, told reporters. He added that members of a joint terrorism
task force were interviewing the man.
LONG PROCESS
Even after the sentencing, the legal wrangling over Tsarnaev's fate
could play out for years, if not decades. Just three of the 74
people sentenced to death in the United States for federal crimes
since 1998 have been executed.
Krystle Campbell's mother, Patricia, called Tsarnaev's actions
"despicable."
"You went down the wrong road," Campbell said. "I know life is hard,
but the choices you made were despicable and what you did to my
daughter was disgusting."
Tsarnaev asked forgiveness for himself and his dead brother.
"I ask Allah to have mercy upon me, my brother and my family,"
Tsarnaev said. "I ask Allah to bestow his mercy upon those who are
here today."
The government's chief prosecutor on the case, William Weinreb, said
he was unimpressed by Tsarnaev's apology.
"He did this for political reasons. This was a politically motivated
act," Weinreb said. "At no point during his statement did he ever
renounce the motives for which he carried out this act. He never
renounced terrorism."
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Jonathan
Oatis)
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