Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sentenced to death

A federal jury Friday rejected the Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s appeal for clemency and sentenced him to death on six counts of causing three deaths, one an 8-year child, and injuring 240 people in a terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon two years ago. A MIT campus policeman was later shot to death as the fleeing bombers, the brothers Tzhokar and Tamerlan, tried to take his gun. After deliberating for 12 hours, the jury pronounced the death penalty because in prison, he might inspire others to emulate him in the spirit of al Qaeda. The defense argument for clemency was based on the claim that his older brother, Tamerlan, who did not survive the pursuit, was the primary offender in the bombing and that the younger Dzhokhar acted under his radicalizing Islamic influence. Prosecutors submitted in evidence an al Qaeda online magazine article called "Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom." In his closing remarks, Assistant US Attorney Steven Mellin called Tsarnaev a terrorist and accused him of showing little remorse.