Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted last month for carrying out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing attacks, was sentenced to death on Friday afternoon.
The 12 jurors voted unanimously to impose the death penalty against Tsarnaev. The jury reached a verdict after roughly 14 hours of deliberation.
Tsarnaev, 21, was found guilty on all 30 charges he faced stemming from the terror attack he and his late brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev carried out on April 15, 2013, during the Boston Marathon, which killed three people and injured more than 260. Seventeen people lost limbs in the blast.
The two brothers carried out the attack — the first terror attack on U.S. soil since the September 11, 2001, attacks — with homemade bombs. They were at large for days before they were identified.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was 26 years old and married, died in a shootout with police. His brother escaped, but was arrested the following day after being discovered hiding in a covered boat.
Though Massachusetts state law prohibits the death penalty, Tsarnaev was tried in federal court, which allows for execution. The U.S. government has executed three people since 1963.
According to CNN Legal Analyst Jeffery Toobin, a years-long appeal process is expected, but “the overwhelming likelihood is that he will die.” He will now be sent to the federal death row in Terre Haute, Ind.
“[T]he ultimate penalty is a fitting punishment for this horrific crime,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said after the sentence was read. “We hope that the completion of this prosecution will bring some measure of closure to the victims and their families.”
