Boston bomber apologizes, gets death sentence
Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ended his long silence on Wednesday, apologizing for the pain and suffering he caused his victims before a judge formally imposed his death sentence.
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"If there is any lingering doubt, let there be no more. I did it, along with my brother," Tsarnaev said, referring to the bombings carried out by him and older brother Tamerlan. "I ask Allah to have mercy on me, my brother and my family."
Tsarnaev, 21, bowed his head and clasped his hands in front as he stood at the defense table. Speaking in a low, slightly accented voice, he expressed remorse but never turned to face his victims.
He said he had come to know their names, faces and ages during his trial, but he did not address any of them by name. Two dozen victims had given powerful victim impact statements earlier in the day.
"Now, I am sorry for the lives that I've taken, for the suffering that I've caused you, for the damage that I've done. Irreparable damage," Tsarnaev said.
"Allah said in the Quran that no soul is burdened with more than it can bear, and you told us just how unbearable it was, how horrendous it was, this thing I put you through," he said. "I also wish that far more people had a chance to get up there (and speak), but I took them from you."
Addressing the survivors who packed the courtroom, Tsarnaev said he prayed for Allah "to bestow his mercy upon the deceased, those affected in the bombing and their families. I pray for your relief, for your healing, for your well-being, for your strength."
Read Tsarnaev's statement (PDF)
Judge George O'Toole told Tsarnaev he had embraced a cruel God, heeded the jihadist "siren song" and engaged in "monstrous self-deception" to carry out the bombings. The judge quoted works by Shakespeare and Verdi as he formally imposed the death sentence -- a decision already made by a federal jury.
"Whenever your name is mentioned, what will be remembered is the evil you have done," O'Toole said. "No one will remember that your teachers were fond of you. No one will mention that your friends found you funny and fun to be with. No one will say you were a talented athlete or that you displayed compassion in being a Best Buddy or that you showed more respect to your women friends than your male peers did.
"What will be remembered is that you murdered and maimed innocent people and that you did it willfully and intentionally. You did it on purpose."
O'Toole recalled Verdi's opera "Otello" and the evil character Iago, who tries to justify his malice by saying he believes in a cruel God.
"Surely someone who believes that God smiles on and rewards the deliberate killing and maiming of innocents believes in a cruel God," the judge said. "That is not, it cannot be, the God of Islam. Anyone who has been led to believe otherwise has been maliciously and willfully deceived."
After the sentencing, U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said she was more struck by what Tsanaev didn't say, particularly his failure to denounce terrorism and Islamic extremism.
Survivor Lynn Julian told reporters outside court that Tsarnaev's "Oscar-worthy" speech lacked sincerity.
"I regret ever wanting to hear him speak," she said.
But another survivor, Henry Borgard, 23, said he accepted the apology. He added that when he locked eyes briefly with Tsarnaev in court, he saw a boy.
"I do know that I believe in second chances," Borgard said. "The man, the boy who planted that bomb that blew up in front of me is younger than I am."
Tsarnaev is the first person to be handed a death sentence in a federal terrorism case since the September 11, 2001, attacks. He and older brother Tamerlan, who died while fleeing police, set off two bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013.
Two women and an 8-year-old boy were killed and more than 260 other people were injured. The blasts left 17 people -- all active, outdoorsy people -- amputees. A fourth person, an MIT police officer, was killed during the hunt for the Tsarnaevs.
Timeline: A look at Tamerlan Tsarnaev's past
It was the day of final reckoning for Tsarnaev, one also set aside for emotional impact statements from victims. With the sentence a foregone conclusion, the only lingering question had been whether Tsarnaev would break his long silence.
For most of the hearing, the families of the victims and the survivors did all the talking, leaving the 11 jurors and three alternates who attended in tears.
