The man accused of bombing the
Boston Marathon in 2013 has been found guilty of all 30 charges that he
faced, many of which carry the death penalty.
The jury in Massachusetts will now decide what sentence 21-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will receive.
Three people were killed and more than 260 injured when the bombs exploded at the finish line in April 2013.
His lawyers maintained he played a role in the attacks but said his older brother was the driving force.
A police officer was killed in the days following the attack as Tsarnaev and his brother, who also died, attempted to flee.
The decision was reached on Wednesday, after the jury deliberated for just over 12 hours spread over two days.
Tsarnaev kept his hands folded in front of him and looked down as the guilty verdicts were read.
Nearby, the mother of one victim, eight-year-old Martin Richard,
wiped tears from her face after the verdict was read. Richard's father
embraced one of the prosecutors.
The victims
restaurant manager Krystle Campbell, 29, had gone to watch a friend complete the race
Chinese graduate student Lu Lingzi was studying statistics at Boston University
eight-year-old Martin Richard was standing with his family, cheering the runners
Victims' profiles in full The
governor of Massachusetts welcomed the verdict, and Boston Mayor Martin
Walsh said: "I hope today's verdict provides a small amount of
closure".
The family of Officer Sean Collier, who was killed days
after the attack, said: "While today's verdict can never bring Sean
back, we are thankful that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be held accountable
for the evil that he brought to so many families."
The conviction
was widely expected because Tsarnaev's chief lawyer, Judy Clarke, made
the surprise admission during opening statements that he took part in
the bombing.
That admission was part of a defence strategy to
paint Tsarnaev's elder brother, Tamerlan, as the mastermind of the
attack who influenced Tsarnaev into participating.
Prosecutors portrayed them as equal partners in a plan to "punish America" for wars in Muslim countries.
Among
the most damning evidence was a video that showed Tsarnaev placing a
backpack bomb near to Martin Richard, and a statement scrawled inside
the boat where he was found hiding days after the attack.
"Stop
killing our innocent people and we will stop," he wrote, as he lay
wounded and bleeding inside the dry-docked boat in suburban garden.
The
jury was also shown a surveillance video of Tsarnaev casually
purchasing milk at a nearby supermarket less than 30 minutes after the
bombs wreaked carnage at the finish line.
At the scene: Tara McKelvey, BBC News
A court official warned against emotional outbursts as the verdict was read.
"There is to be no reactions," he told people in the room. "Maintain complete silence."
People
on the government's side, near the FBI agents and the Watertown,
Massachusetts, police chief, had cried as they watched videos of the
bombings. Today they were quiet as the verdicts were read: "guilty,
guilty, guilty".
Earlier Tsarnaev had given his lawyer, Judy Clarke, a half-fist-bump.
She didn't return it. This afternoon he was more subdued. He stood and
paid close attention as the verdicts were read, occasionally rocking
from side to side. He put his hands in his pockets then took them out
quickly. He has long lashes, and he blinked a lot. When he was led out
of the room, he walked quickly, as before, but his step was less
springy. The
jury will now have to decide whether Tsarnaev faces the death penalty
as the trial moves into its second phase, which could begin as early as
Monday.
Tsarnaev is an ethnic Chechen. His family moved to the US about a decade before the bombings.
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