Tsarnaev prosecutors push for the death penalty
What happened The penalty phase in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s trial opened in emotional and dramatic fashion this week, as federal prosecutors sought to persuade the jury to sentence the 21-year-old Boston Marathon bomber to death. Several jurors wept openly as they heard testimony from witnesses who lost limbs or loved ones in the April 15, 2013, bombing, which killed three people and injured 264 others. One survivor recalled the horror of seeing a broken bone sticking out of her bloodied leg; another described the despair of being unable to move toward her grievously wounded daughter because her own legs had been blown apart. Tsarnaev, an ethnic Chechen immigrant who was found guilty on all 30 counts last month, indicated before his arrest that the attacks were meant to avenge the deaths of Muslim civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. Federal prosecutor Nadine Pellegrini ended her opening statement by unveiling a photo of the defendant giving the finger to the security ca...