Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has arrived for the start of jury selection in his federal death penalty trial. The chosen jury will have the task of determining whether 21-year-old Tsarnaev was behind the two bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260 near the finish line of the race on April 15, 2013 and if so, whether he should receive the death penalty.
Over the next three days, approximately 1,200 people will be considered as potential jurors in the federal trial. The first 200 were given initial instructions on Monday by Judge George O’Toole Jr.
The trial is currently one of the nation’s most closely watched federal death penalty cases in the past two decades. The courthouse is under tight security, and dozens of police officers have been stationed inside and outside the building.
As a result of extensive media coverage, jury selection is expected to take several weeks. The process also could be slowed even further if potential jurors express objections to the death penalty.
Some legal observers say Tsarnaev’s lawyers will most likely focus their efforts on the penalty phase to spare his life due to powerful evidence against him.
Tsarnaev’s lawyers may lay the groundwork for some kind of mental health explanation, speculated Christopher Dearborn, a professor at Suffolk University Law School. Dearborn said this could include any persecution his family might have suffered as ethnic minorities.
“I think the real value in that may be to start to try to generate even a little bit of empathy around this and humanize the kid a little bit, hopefully enough to save a life,” Dearborn said.
According to prosecutors, brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev carried out the bombings as retaliation for U.S. actions in Muslim countries. The older brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan died after a firefight with police several days after the bombings.
Dzhokhar was captured, found hiding inside a boat stored in a suburban yard. Prosecutors said he described a motive in a note written in the boat: “The U.S. Government is killing our innocent civilians” and “We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all.”
