Boston--Convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev must face death for the attack that killed three people and wounded 254, prosecutors will argue when a court this week begins weighing up his fate.
The sentencing phase of Tsarnaev's high-profile trial begins Tuesday in the city, just days after the parents of a young boy killed in the dual blasts on April 15, 2013 asked for the death penalty to be dropped.
Tsarnaev faces either life in prison or the death penalty after a jury unanimously convicted him this month of carrying out the worst attack in the United States since the 9/11 hijackings.
During sentencing, which is expected to last three or four weeks, prosecutors will try to convince the 12 jurors there are enough aggravating factors -- including premeditation, the number of victims and a lack of remorse -- to warrant capital punishment.
Defense attorneys for Tsarnaev, a Muslim immigrant of Chechen descent who became a US citizen in 2012, will argue that he was merely a confused teenager who was under the influence of his elder, radicalized brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Tamerlan, 26, was shot dead by police while on the run.
As was the case during the first part of the trial, each side will call witnesses.
"I think we'll hear a lot more from the defense about who the defendant is, his young age, what is life has been like, what his relationship with his brother was," said University of New Hampshire professor Albert Scherr, an expert on the death penalty.
AFP
