The United States will seek the death penalty for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced in a statement Thursday.
Federal prosecutors filed the Notice of Intent to seek the death penalty in the case United States of America v. Dzhokhar A.Tsarnaev to the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts.
“After consideration of the relevant facts, the applicable regulations and the submissions made by the defendant’s counsel, I have determined that the United States will seek the death penalty in this matter,” Holder said. “The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision.”
Tsarnaev, 20, was a student at University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth when he was accused of planting two bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15. His brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was the other prime suspect in the case. Four days after the marathon, Tamerlan was shot by officers in Watertown.
The Boston Marathon bombings killed three people, including Boston University graduate student Lingzi Lu, and injured at least 264.
In Massachusetts, capital punishment has been abolished since the 1984 ruling of Commonwealth v. Colon-Cruz.
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