Updated, 8:30 a.m., Tuesday, 04/07/2015:
Jurors begin deliberating Tuesday morning in the trial of admitted Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. At issue: whether Tsarnaev's alleged crimes can be understood in isolation — or only in the context of his deceased older brother Tamerlan's influence.
4:00 p.m.
The case of admitted-Boston-Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is now in the hands of the jury. The closing arguments ended Monday afternoon on a bad note for the defense.
The final word in today's closing arguments went to William Weinreb--an assistant US attorney who cast Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's defense strategy as a pathetic dodge.
Basically, Weinreb said, Tsarnaev wants to blame his deceased older brother for his own crimes. He can try that approach, Weinreb added--but, he urged jurors, "you should see that for what it is: an attempt to sidestep responsibility."
In that defiant note Tsarnaev scrawled inside a boat in Watertown, Weinreb added, "He didn't say we. He said I. It was a note about who he was -- and what he wanted to accomplish."
Defense council Judy Clarke — an expert in death penalty cases -- as she did at the beginning of this trial, said that her client accepts responsibility for the bombings, the shooting of Officer Sean Collier and the Watertown shootout, but that he was literally in some instances following in his brothers footsteps.
The government, which by law is allowed to follow the defense closing, sought to shred every argument advanced by the defense, asserting Tsarnaev was influenced by his older brother. Government prosecutor William Weinreb in rebuttal told the jury "If you're so callous you kill and then buy milk? Can you really blame your brother for giving you some propaganda?"
Earlier Clarke had turned to the jury and asked, "Who bought the necessary materials? Who planned this series of horrific events?" It was Tamerlan, she said.. "Tamerlan built the bombs, Tamerlan murdered Sean Collier."
But the government pointed out Tsarnaev was motived by radial jihadist propaganda and said that he had such materials on every electronic device he owned.
3:34 p.m.
The defense is presenting its closing argument in the trial of admitted Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Defense attorney Judy Clarke told jurors that the pain caused by the Boston Marathon bombings is unimaginable—and that Tsaranev did plant the bomb that killed Martin Richard and Lingzi Lu on Boylston Street two years ago. But she insisted thatDzhokhar was a junior partner who followed the lead of his deceased older brother Tamerlan.
Citing fingerprint samples, GPS data, and internet search history, Clarke said the difference in the brothers’ roles is incontrovertible. Or, as she put it: Tamerlan built the bombs. Tamerlan murdered Officer [Sean Collier]. Tamerlan led and Dzhokhar followed."
2:00 p.m.
U.S. Assistant Attorney Aloke Charkarvarty, representing the government, said of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev: he "was proud of what he did and now it is time to hold him responsible”.
Wearing a dark jacket and light blue shirt, the defendant at times looked unnerved by the government's relentless and pounding summary. At other times he seemed to exhale as the trial draws to a close.
Tzarnaev was portrayed by the prosecution, not as the college student he once was, or as a secondary character in a terrorist war on America, as the government described. But, in the prosecutor’s words, he acted like a "soldier" when he planted a bomb on Boylston Street, carjacked a man on the streets of Boston and engaged police in a firefight in Watertown.
With the government having delivered an emotional, closing complete with graphic photos, video and audio, Judy Clarke for the defense takes to the courtroom floor to try to show that Tsarnaev was a follower, and not a partner in crime with his brother Tamerlan.
11:47 a.m.
A prosecutor has told a jury that Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev targeted men, women and children at the marathon because he wanted to terrorize the United States on a day when the eyes of the world would be on Boston.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Aloke Chakravarty said in closings arguments Monday in Tsarnaev's federal death penalty trial that Tsarnaev "wanted to punish America for what it was doing to his people."
He is charged with conspiring with his older brother, Tamerlan, to bomb the marathon in April 2013. Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured.
Chakravarty says the brothers targeted civilians including children to make a point.
The defense has said the attack was meant to retaliate against the U.S. for its actions in Muslim countries.
Federal prosecutors and lawyers for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have one last chance to make their case to the jury.
9:00 a.m.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday in the first phase of Tsarnaev's death penalty trial.
Tsarnaev's lawyers have admitted he participated in the bombings, but said his older brother was the mastermind behind the 2013 attack. During its closing argument, the defense is expected to continue to focus on Tamerlan Tsarnaev's role.
Prosecutors are expected to remind the jury of the brutality of the attack, the three people who were killed and the others who were maimed.
If Tsarnaev is convicted, the same jury will hear more evidence during a second phase of the trial to determine whether he receives the death penalty or life in prison.
