Lawyers present closing arguments at trial Tsarnaev

Prosecutors and lawyers presented their final arguments Wednesday before the jury that will decide the fate of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and the jury began to deliberate if the perpetrator of the terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon should be sentenced to death or life imprisonment. The jury received the case late in the day and deliberated for 45 minutes before going home. They will return to federal court Thursday to resume work. Three people died and over 260 were injured when two bombs exploded near the finish of the marathon on April 15, 2013. Tsarnaev, 21, was convicted last month in federal court of 30 counts against him, including use of a weapon of mass destruction. The same jury will now decide his sentence. The jury must vote unanimously to impose the death penalty. If one juror objects, Tsarnaev receive life imprisonment. The prosecutor Steve Mellin said Tsarnaev want to cause their victims all possible physical pain to make a political declaration. “The bombs burned his skin, broken bones and torn flesh,” Mellin said. Explosions “disfigured their bodies, their limbs twisted and opened holes in their legs and torsos.” Defense attorney Judy Clarke asked jurors to spare his life Tsarnaev, and said that his client “is not the worst of the worst, and it is reserved for those that the death penalty”. He asked them to understand how and why Tsarnaev was involved in the plot. “We think we have shown that it is not only possible but probable that Dzhokhar has potential for redemption,” adding that “he genuinely regrets what he has done.”