WASHINGTON-
The United States will seek the death penalty for accused bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is charged with planting homemade explosives devices that killed three people and wounded 264 at the Boston Marathon last year, the government’s chief prosecutor said on Thursday.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement that he was authorizing trial prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Tsarnaev, who is charged with committing one of the largest attacks on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001.
“The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision,” Holder said. Holder had faced a Friday deadline for deciding whether to seek the death penalty as part of Tsarnaev’s upcoming trial in Boston.
Tsarnaev, 20, and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan planted a pair of homemade pressure-cooker bombs at the race’s crowded finish line on April 15, 2013, killing three people – including an 8-year-old boy. The blast also wounded 264 others, many of whom lost limbs.
Three nights later, the ethnic Chechen brothers killed a university police officer and later engaged in a shootout with police that left Tamerlan dead, prosecutors say. Dzhokhar was later found hiding in a boat in which he scrawled several phrases, including “we Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all”, according to prosecutors.
Government prosecutors said in a filing with the U.S. District Court in Boston that reasons for Holder’s decision included that the killings were deliberate, cruel and that Tsarnaev had shown a lack of repentance.
“One way or another, based on the evidence, Tsarnaev will die in prison,” Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said. A trial date has not yet been set for Tsarnaev, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh reacted to Holder’s announcement by saying he supported “the process that brought him to this decision,” adding that his thoughts were with the victims of the bombing and their families.
“We stand together as one Boston in the face of evil and hatred,” he said.
