Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was formally sentenced to death today for his role in the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, 2013. The bombings killed three and injured dozens; and in the ensuing manhunt that followed Tsarnaev shot and killed an MIT police officer. A jury recommended the death penalty back in May.
Tsarnaev addressed survivors of the bombings as well as the families of his victims prior to Judge George O'Toole's formal sentencing. He apologized for "this thing I put you through."
"You told us just how unbearable it was, this thing I put you through," Tsarnaev said at a hearing in Boston. "Now, I am sorry for the lives that I have taken."
"I ask Allah for his mercy for me and my brother and my family," he said.
Tsarnaev stood as he spoke, and the courtroom was extraordinarily quiet. He paused at each sentence and appeared to tremble. Some victims had gathered in court to hear him. Few appeared to react to what he said.
The Boston Marathon bombing was an act of extreme evil that shook a city to its core. The punishment was just.
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