Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was officially sentenced to death at a Boston courthouse on Wednesday afternoon, but not before finally apologizing for carrying out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings with his older brother, Tamerlan. The younger Tsarnaev admitted his guilt and spoke at-length for the first time since the trial began back in January.
“I would like to now apologize to the victims, to the survivors,” he said, speaking at length for the first time in the months-long trial. “I am sorry for the lives that I’ve taken, for the suffering that I’ve caused you, and the damage that I’ve done.” Tsarnaev, a Muslim, added that he asked “Allah to bestow his mercy on those affected in the bombing and their families.”
“I ask Allah to have mercy upon me, my brother and my family,” he said, admitting that he did, in fact, bomb the marathon: “I did it — in case there was any lingering doubt.”
Last month, a federal jury found Tsarnaev guilty of carrying out the bombings and the ensuing manhunt throughout the Boston area. The convictions condemned him to death, but Wednesday’s court proceedings were a formality to make it official. Judge George O’Toole handed down the death penalty, and also added some parting words to the bomber.
“No one will remember that your teachers were fond of you … That you were funny, a good athlete,” O’Toole said. “What will be remembered is that you murdered and maimed.”
(Via Mashable and Boston.com)