The trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013, began on March 4, 2015, in front of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, nearly two years after the pre-trial hearings. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's attorney, Judy Clarke, opened by telling the jurors that her client and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted a bomb killing three and injuring hundreds, as well as murdering an MIT police officer days later. In her 20-minute opening statement, Clarke said: "There's little that occurred the week of April the 15th ... that we dispute." Tsarnaev was found guilty on all 30 counts and has been sentenced to death by lethal injection for his crimes.
Pre-trial events
Tsarnaev's arraignment for 30 charges, including four for murder, occurred on July 10, 2013, in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler. It was his first public court appearance. He pleaded not guilty to all 30 counts against him, which included using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death. Tsarnaev is represented by Miriam Conrad, David Bruck, William Fick, Timothy G. Watkins, and Judy Clarke.
On January 30, 2014, United States Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government would seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. A plea deal failed when the government refused to rule out the possibility of the death penalty. The proceedings were overseen by Judge George O'Toole. Jury selection lasted two months.
After his detention, Tsarnaev was questioned without being provided a Miranda warning. After being read his Miranda rights, Tsarnaev stopped talking and declined to continue to cooperate with the investigation. Prosecutors initially argued that his pre-Miranda statements should be admissible, invoking Miranda's public safety exception. However, the exception was not considered by the court because the prosecutors later decided not to use those statements in their case.
Opening statements
Opening statements took place on March 4, 2015. Assistant US Attorney William Weinreb opened for the prosecution. "He pretended to be a spectator, but he had murder in his heart," Weinreb said.
Weinreb gave graphic details of the aftermath, while some of the victims' family members were in the courtroom listening. Weinreb said eight-year-old Martin Richard "bled to death on the sidewalk", Lü Lingzi (), had the "inside of her stomach pouring out", and Krystle Campbell was left with "gaping holes" in her body. It was revealed on the first day that Tsarnaev stood on Boylston Street for four minutes before placing a backpack with a bomb in it on the ground. After planting the bombs, Tsarnaev went shopping for milk at a Whole Foods Market after the bombings as if "nothing had happened".
Jurors also learned that Stephen Silva, a friend of Tsarnaev's, gave the 9mm Ruger pistol that killed MIT police officer Sean Collier while the Tsarnaevs attempted to escape. Collier was shot twice in the side of the head, once between the eyes, and three times in the right hand. A graduate student saw the Tsarnaevs standing by the police cruiser Collier was sitting in, and another person heard the gunshots.
Prosecutors contended that the Tsarnaev brothers were inspired by Al-Qaeda, and it was by reading Inspire, an Al-Qaeda-sponsored online publication, that they learned to construct the pressure cooker bombs used. It was also learned that Tamerlan died when Dzhokhar ran over him while attempting to escape from a shootout with police in Watertown. In admitting to the crimes, Clarke said that "the circumstances that bring us here today still are difficult to grasp, they are incomprehensible, they are inexcusable", but tried to say that Dzhokhar acted under the influence of Tamerlan.
Marathon victims and witnesses
On the second day of the trial, March 5, seven witnesses testified about what they saw before, during, and after the blasts. The testimony of Bill Richard, Martin's father, caused several in the courtroom to cry, including at least one juror. Iraq war veteran and Boston police officer Frank Chioloa, testified about the last moments of Krystle Marie Campbell, and fellow officer Lauren Woods did the same about Lu Lingzi. Woods refused an order to leave Lu's side after she died. Also Boston Police Captain Frank Armstrong and Massachusetts State Police patrolmen Frannie Deary, Paul Downey, Bill Zubrin, and Jimmy Scopa testified about standing over Martin's body for 12 hours after the bombing.