WASHINGTON, January 30 (RIA Novosti) – The United States will seek the death penalty for accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for his alleged role in the attack that killed three people and wounded hundreds of others, US Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday.
“After consideration of the relevant facts, the applicable regulations and the submissions made by the defendant’s counsel, I have determined that the United States will seek the death penalty in this matter,” Holder said in a statement. “The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision.”
Tsarnaev, 20, faces murder and terrorism-related charges in connection with the April 15 twin blasts near the finish line of the marathon and the chaotic police manhunt in the days the followed.
He has pleaded not guilty to all 30 charges against him related to the bombing that he is accused of carrying out with his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was shot and killed by police during the manhunt.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is also charged in the murder of Sean Collier, a police officer at the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who was shot dead while the brothers were being sought by police.
The brothers’ family roots lie in the restive North Caucasus region in southern Russia, though their family settled in the Boston area around a decade ago.
In court papers filed Thursday, federal prosecutors cited the death of 8-year-old Martin Richard as one of their arguments for seeking the death penalty. They also wrote that the attacks were “heinous, cruel and depraved” and constituted a “betrayal of the United States.”
“Dzhokhar Tsarnaev received asylum from the United States; obtained citizenship and enjoyed the freedoms of a United States citizen; and then betrayed his allegiance to the United States by killing and maiming people in the United States,” prosecutors wrote.
Capital punishment is barred in Massachusetts, but Tsarnaev has been indicted on federal charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction, which could carry the death penalty upon conviction.
While federal prosecutors will pursue the death penalty for Tsarnaev, it will be up to a judge or jury to render that punishment should he be convicted.
A status conference has been set for February 12, US Attorney Carmen Ortiz, who is handling the case, said in a statement.
