Penalty Phase Underway in Tsarnaev Trial
By Samantha Lavien
The penalty phase for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzohkhar Tsarnaev got underway Tuesday morning.
In this part of the trial, jurors will ultimately be tasked with deciding whether or not the 21-year-old should be sentenced to death or life in prison. 17 of the 30 counts that Tsarnaev has been convicted of carry the possibility of the death penalty.
The penalty phase began with jurors receiving preliminary instructions from the judge. After that, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadine Pellegrini delivered opening statements for the Government.
Pellegrini described the convicted bomber as “unrepentant, uncaring and untouched,” by the chaos and loss that followed the 2013 bombings and attacks. She ended her remarks by showing a picture of Tsarnaev taken before his July 2013 arraignment. The photo shows Tsarnaev wearing an orange jump suit and giving the middle finger to a camera in his holding cell.
Pellegrini told jurors, “he simply is callous and indifferent to human life. It is his character that makes the death penalty appropriate.”
The first witness on the stand was double amputee Celeste Corcoran. She says after the explosion she remembers not being able to breathe, recalling a thick black smoke in the air and the choking sensation she felt.
Corcoran broke down talking about the moment doctors told her both legs had to be amputated. She also spoke of struggle she had not being able to care for her daughter, Sydney, who was also injured in the bombings.
Next on the stand was 20-year-old Gillian Reny. The college student cried as she told jurors how her tibia was broken in half by the bombings, and how her bone was sticking out of her leg. Reny tearfully told the jurors, “I didn’t know it was possible for someone to be injured that bad and survive.”
Several others also took the stand, including the brother and father of Krystle Campbell—one of the three killed in the bombings. As part of their testimony they spoke about what kind of person she was before the attack. The Government entered a series of family pictures into evidence.
The Government’s testimony is expected to continue throughout the week, and the Defense is slated to start next week.
Outside of the courthouse, a group of protestors held up signs and handed out pamphlets in an anti-death-penalty movement. The protestors telling ABC 6 News that they do not believe death for the convicted bomber is the right answer.
“We’re trying to introduce the idea of mercy into the equation. Some people wonder how we can stand here against the death penalty when there’s been so much carnage and we acknowledge that totally” said Brayton Shanley, one of the protesters.
“To go for the death penalty, what is it? It’s legislating revenge” Shanley said.
In the past several days many of the victims’ families have also come out against the death penalty, including the parents of the youngest bombing victim, Martin Richard.
On the contrary, there have also been several survivors who have said they are for the death penalty.
© WLNE-TV 2015
