Boston Marathon Bomber Trial Begins, Defense Attorney: 'It Was Him'

Photo via WHDH.

The defense attorney for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev opened the trial on Wednesday with an acknowledgement that her client was part of one of the most heinous acts to ever happen in the city’s history.

Judy Clarke, Tsarnaev’s defense attorney, said, “There’s little that we dispute” in the case of Tsarnaev, who faces 30 charges, 17 of which could bring the death penalty.

There is no disputing that he and his brother, Tamerlan, dropped backpacks filled with explosives along the Boston Marathon route in 2013 that killed three people and injured 260 others, participated in the killing of a police officer and later hid in a boat in Watertown as police surrounded him.

But his brother was the one who influenced the younger Dzhokhar to take part in the bombings and aftermath, she said.

>>Day Two: Witnesses and survivors deliver testimonies. Read Patch coverage of victim Rebekah Gregory’s letter to Tsarnaev.

The trial, in a courtroom full of victims, family members and media, began with opening statements from both Assistant U.S. Attorney William Weinreb and Clarke.

USA Today reported that Weinreb said 21-year-old Tsarnaev “believed the United States government is the enemy of Muslim people.”

People injured in the attack, such as dancer Heather Abbott and Marc Fucarile, sat quietly in court during the proceedings. Abbott and Fucarile both lost a leg in the blast. The parents of Martin Richard, an 8-year-old who bled to death due to the bomb’s impact, were also present in the courtroom. The jury saw several videos of the bombs going off and injured people screaming.

If the jury convicts Tsarnaev, the trial will move to a second phase to determine his punishment, per CBS News. The only two options available for the jury are life in prison or the death penalty. Tsarnaev’s defense lawyers tried four times to have the trial moved out of Boston.

Things to know about the death penalty in the Commonwealth:

• The last execution in Massachusetts, which was by electric chair, was in 1947.
• State courts struck down the death penalty in 1982, via Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
• Tsarnaev’s case allows for capital punishment for about 50 crimes, as he has been charged in the federal court system. The detonation of weapons of mass destruction resulting in death is one of those crimes.

WHDH noted that the case is the most closely watched terrorism trial in the U.S. since the Oklahoma City bombing case in the mid-1990s.

More Boston Marathon coverage on Patch:

• Alleged Boston Marathon Bomber’s Widow Could Face Criminal Charges
• Injured Boston Bombing Couple to Divorce
• Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect’s Lawyers Seek Indictment Dismissal
• Tsarnaev Lawyers: Delay Trial Over Paris Attacks
• Death Penalty Complicates Boston Bomber Trial
• Watch: Boston Marathon Victim Walks Again
• Marathon Bombing Victims Help a North Andover Boy