Update, 4 p.m.: Closing arguments in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have finished — with the defense and prosecution painting radically different pictures of what life in prison might hold for the convicted Boston Marathon bomber.
In her closing argument, defense attorney Judy Clarke urged jurors to give Tsarnaev life in prison — saying he’s remorseful for his crimes and shows “great potential for redemption.”
But in a scathing rebuttal, prosecutor Bill Weinreb rejected that argument, saying there’s no real evidence that Tsarnaev regrets his actions at all. If Tsarnaev spends his life in prison, Weinreb added, he could simply leave the memories of his victims behind, the same way he left them to die after bombing the marathon two years ago.
— Adam Reilly
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Update, 2:00 p.m.: The lead defense attorney for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is giving her closing statement to the jury.
Judy Clarke, a death penalty expert, began as she did at the beginning of the trial, by turning to the jury and saying, "I'm not asking you to excuse him. There are no excuses. I'm asking you to hold open your minds."
She then went on to describe a set of mitigating circumstances to answer the question of why he did what he did: His father was clinically diagnosed with mental illness, Tamerlan and his mother Zubeidat had undue influence on Dzhokhar, and the family was absent from Dzhokhar’s life.
But an hour earlier, the prosecution closed its argument by looking toward the jury and saying the only sentence that will do justice in this case is a sentence of death.
— Phillip Martin
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Noon: Closing arguments are underway in the trial of Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — with jurors preparing to decide whether Tsarnaev lives or dies.
The government’s closing was delivered by prosecutor Steven Mellin — who told jurors there’s a moment of clarity that comes right before death. For Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Mellin said, that moment came inside a boat in a Watertown backyard, where Tsarnaev scrawled a defense of the Boston marathon bombings.
"Those are the words of a terrorist convinced that he did the right thing,” Mellin said — adding that Tsarnaev’s message was devoid of any remorse.
— Adam Reilly
