BOSTON -- The trial of the accused Boston Marathon bomber began Wednesday, with prosecutors saying Dzhokhar Tsarnaev wanted to "maim and kill as many people as possible" at the race.
U.S. Attorney William Weinreb described the homemade bomb filled with nails and ball bearings Tsarnaev allegedly detonated at the finish line of the race on April 15, 2013.
"It was the type of bomb favored by terrorists. …The defendant’s goal that day was to maim and kill as many people as possible," Weinreb said. "He had murder in his heart, though you wouldn’t know it to look at him." Tsarnaev appeared in court with a goatee, and wearing a blazer and white dress shirt.
Before opening statements began Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge George O'Toole ruled that he would limit the amount of personal history about Tsarnaev that jurors would hear in the first phase of the trial.
This could be a disadvantage for the defense, which was expected to argue that Tsarnaev was under the sway of his older brother Tamerlan (now deceased) when the two allegedly detonated two bombs at the Boston Marathon. O'Toole said, however, that there cannot be a total ban on Tsarnaev's personal history from the first phase of the trial.
Eight women and 10 men were selected for the jury on Tuesday after a protracted process to find 12 impartial jurors and six alternates who were willing to consider imposing the death penalty if the 21-year-old is convicted.
The two brothers are accused of killing three people and wounding 264 near the marathon’s finish line with homemade bombs fashioned from pressure cookers. The combined number of casualties from the attack made it one of the largest acts of
domestic terrorism in the U.S.
Some of those survivors were on hand Wednesdays morning, according to The Boston Globe.
The brothers, ethnic Chechen immigrants, allegedly also killed MIT police officer Sean Collier on April 18, 2013, after the FBI released photographs of the suspected bombers.
The FBI says this photo shows Tamerlan Tsarnaev, left, and his brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, moments before two bombs exploded at 2013 Boston Marathon.
U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s office charged Tsarnaev with 30 alleged crimes in federal court in April 2013. The grand jury indictment from June 2013 includes using a weapon of mass destruction; the use of a firearm resulting in death; and conspiring to use improvised explosive devices against people, property and places of public use.
Seventeen of the charges carry the death penalty. Only three federal prisoners have been executed in more than 50 years, though there are 61 federal inmates on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Prosecutors are likely to argue that Tsarnaev was deeply involved in planning the attack and carrying it out. The indictment said that the brothers started planning the attack no later than February 2013, two months before the 117th running of the Boston Marathon.
The defense is expected to claim Tamerlan was the mastermind of the attack and that he cast a domineering influence on his younger brother's life.
The trial reportedly could take up to three months. Prosecutors amassed a list of more than 730 potential witnesses and thousands of exhibits, radio station WBUR reported.
The defense has repeatedly asked for a change of venue, believing it’s impossible to seat impartial jurors in Boston, but they've been turned down five times. However, the argument could resurface during an appeal if Tsarnaev is convicted.
Most experts have said there’s little chance Tsarnaev could be acquitted. If the jury returns with a guilty verdict, the trial moves to the penalty phase, in which life in prison without parole would be a possible punishment in addition to the death penalty.
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U.S. Attorney William Weinreb described the homemade bomb filled with nails and ball bearings Tsarnaev allegedly detonated at the finish line of the race on April 15, 2013.
"It was the type of bomb favored by terrorists. …The defendant’s goal that day was to maim and kill as many people as possible," Weinreb said. "He had murder in his heart, though you wouldn’t know it to look at him." Tsarnaev appeared in court with a goatee, and wearing a blazer and white dress shirt.
Before opening statements began Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge George O'Toole ruled that he would limit the amount of personal history about Tsarnaev that jurors would hear in the first phase of the trial.
This could be a disadvantage for the defense, which was expected to argue that Tsarnaev was under the sway of his older brother Tamerlan (now deceased) when the two allegedly detonated two bombs at the Boston Marathon. O'Toole said, however, that there cannot be a total ban on Tsarnaev's personal history from the first phase of the trial.
Eight women and 10 men were selected for the jury on Tuesday after a protracted process to find 12 impartial jurors and six alternates who were willing to consider imposing the death penalty if the 21-year-old is convicted.
The two brothers are accused of killing three people and wounding 264 near the marathon’s finish line with homemade bombs fashioned from pressure cookers. The combined number of casualties from the attack made it one of the largest acts of
domestic terrorism in the U.S.
Some of those survivors were on hand Wednesdays morning, according to The Boston Globe.
Some Marathon bombing victims were escorted inside courthouse before start of Tsarnaev trial. http://t.co/aFPTWrVExA http://ift.tt/1El4SEl
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) href="http://ift.tt/1AIEmyO">March 4, 2015The brothers, ethnic Chechen immigrants, allegedly also killed MIT police officer Sean Collier on April 18, 2013, after the FBI released photographs of the suspected bombers.
U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s office charged Tsarnaev with 30 alleged crimes in federal court in April 2013. The grand jury indictment from June 2013 includes using a weapon of mass destruction; the use of a firearm resulting in death; and conspiring to use improvised explosive devices against people, property and places of public use.
Seventeen of the charges carry the death penalty. Only three federal prisoners have been executed in more than 50 years, though there are 61 federal inmates on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Prosecutors are likely to argue that Tsarnaev was deeply involved in planning the attack and carrying it out. The indictment said that the brothers started planning the attack no later than February 2013, two months before the 117th running of the Boston Marathon.
The defense is expected to claim Tamerlan was the mastermind of the attack and that he cast a domineering influence on his younger brother's life.
The trial reportedly could take up to three months. Prosecutors amassed a list of more than 730 potential witnesses and thousands of exhibits, radio station WBUR reported.
The defense has repeatedly asked for a change of venue, believing it’s impossible to seat impartial jurors in Boston, but they've been turned down five times. However, the argument could resurface during an appeal if Tsarnaev is convicted.
Most experts have said there’s little chance Tsarnaev could be acquitted. If the jury returns with a guilty verdict, the trial moves to the penalty phase, in which life in prison without parole would be a possible punishment in addition to the death penalty.
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