Three people were killed and 260 were injured when Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan placed bombs at the finishing line of the Boston Marathon in 2013.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, now 21, is likely to be moved to a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, to await execution, but there could be years of appeals.
Victims sobbed as the sentence was read, but Dzhkhar Tsarnaev showed no emotion.
“Now he will go away and we will be able to move on. Justice. In his own words, <<an eye for an eye>>,” said bombing victim Sydney Corcoran, who nearly bled to death and whose mother lost both legs.
After 14 hours of deliberations, the jury concluded that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev showed no remorse and therefore should be put to death.
“The jury has spoken. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will pay for his crimes with his life,” said US Attorney Carmen Ortiz.
Massachusetts as a state ended the death penalty in 1984, but Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was tried on federal charges, meaning he was eligible for execution.
After the sentence was announced, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said: “The ultimate penalty is a fitting punishment for this horrific crime and we hope that the completion of this prosecution will bring some measure of closure to the victims and their families.”
However, not all of the victims supported the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
The parents of Martin Richard, an 8-year-old boy killed in the blast, wrote an article in the Boston Globe newspaper last month asking the government to not seek a death sentence as it would delay their emotional closure.
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