Tsarnaev found guilty in Boston Marathon bombings

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty Wednesday on all 30 counts against him for his role in the April 2013 bombings at the Boston Marathon, including use of weapons of mass destruction charges which carry the death penalty.

The bombings killed three people, including an 8-year-old boy, and wounded 264 others during the worst terrorist attack in the US since September 11, 2001. The subsequent manhunt for Mr Tsarnaev and his older brother resulted in the shooting death of a police officer.

The federal court case now moves to the sentencing phase in which the same 12-member jury, which is made up of five men and seven women, will decide whether Mr Tsarnaev deserves the death penalty or life in prison.

The government has recommended the death penalty, while the defence has emphasised Mr Tsarnaev's secondary role in the bombing attack to his older deceased brother, Tamerlan, in the hope of avoiding that sentence.

The jury at the US District Court in Boston took more than 11 hours to deliberate on the verdict. A guilty finding was expected on most of the 30 counts against Mr Tsarnaev given that the defence attorneys acknowledged his role in the bombing. Seventeen of those counts carry the death penalty.

During the four-week trial, the government called more than 90 witnesses in what was often emotional testimony recounting the explosions at the end of the popular Boston marathon. The annual event takes place again on April 20.

Defence attorneys called only four people to the stand. They focused on painting their client as an impressionable younger brother who was under the influence of his dominating older sibling, Tamerlan, who was killed during the 2013 police hunt for the duo.

Defence lawyer Judy Clarke pointed out that Tamerlan was 26 at the time while Mr Tsarnaev, who is now 21, was then just 19. The elder sibling was run over by his younger brother as the latter was attempting to escape from police surrounding their vehicle.

"You know who made these bombs. It was Tamerlan," Ms Clarke said during the closing arguments. "If not for Tamerlan, it would not have happened."

Those statements offered a preview of what the defence will probably argue during the sentencing phase.

The jury must be unanimous in its views to impose the death penalty.

Federal prosecutors, however, portrayed Mr Tsarnaev, who is ethnically Chechen, as an Islamic jihadist who is a cold blooded killer and said the defence was trying to avoid responsibility for Mr Tsarnaev.

"This was a cold, calculated terrorist act," said prosecutor Aloke Chakravarty during closing arguments. ""That day, they felt they were soldiers."

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