Breaking: Explosion Reported at Boston Marathon's Finish Line

[David Guyatt]

According to this article, it's all pre-judged - the consensus is that Tsarnaev is already guilty - it's just a case of whether he will get the death penalty or life imprisonment?

A state trial where a guilty verdict is a certainty used to be the stuff of the old Soviet Union. Funny how times change things around completely.

Boston Marathon bombings trial: Tsarnaev jury selection begins

Jury to decide whether Dzhokhar Tsarnaev carried out bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260 in April 2013

• Associated Press in Boston
  
• The Guardian, Monday 5 January 2015 08.54 GMT
  

Heather Abbott, who lost part of her left leg in the Boston marathon bombings, is one of the victims who will attend the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Jury selection for the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, accused in the Boston Marathon attacks, begins on Monday, with those chosen to decide whether Tsarnaev planned and carried out the twin bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260 near the finish line of the race on 15 April 2013.
If they find him guilty, they will decide whether he should be put to death.
It is perhaps the most closely watched federal death penalty case since Timothy McVeigh was convicted and executed for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Tsarnaev's lawyers tried in vain for months to get the trial moved, arguing the Boston jury pool was tainted because of the number of locals with connections to the race. They drew parallels to the McVeigh case, which was moved for similar reasons.
Jury selection is expected to take several weeks because of extensive media coverage. The process also could be slowed if potential jurors express objections to the death penalty.
Some legal observers say Tsarnaev's lawyers, facing powerful evidence against him, will probably focus their energies on the penalty phase, when they could present mitigating evidence to spare his life.
Prosecutors say 21-year-old Dzhokhar and his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev ethnic Chechens who had lived in the US for about a decade carried out the bombings as retaliation for US actions in Muslim countries. They are also accused of killing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer. Tamerlan, 26, died after a firefight with police several days after the bombings.
Dzhokhar was captured later that day, wounded and bloodied, hiding inside a boat stored in a suburban yard. Prosecutors said he described a motive in a note written in the boat saying "The US government is killing our innocent civilians" and "We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all."
Tsarnaev's lawyers may lay the groundwork for some kind of mental health explanation, said Christopher Dearborn, a professor at Suffolk University law school. That could include any persecution his family might have suffered as ethnic minorities in Kyrgyzstan, where the brothers spent most of their lives before moving to the US with their parents and two sisters.
"I think the real value in that may be to start to try to generate even a little bit of empathy around this and humanise the kid a little bit, hopefully enough to save a life," Dearborn said.
At least one of three college friends convicted of lying or impeding the investigation is expected to testify against Tsarnaev. Another friend who pleaded guilty to possessing a gun used to kill a police officer during the manhunt is also expected to testify for the prosecution.
Supporters of Tsarnaev have demonstrated outside the courthouse during pretrial hearings.
Heather Abbott, who lost part of her left leg in the bombings, is one of several victims who plan to attend at least part of the trial. She said she hoped to gain some understanding of the motive.
"I don't see it as something that will get me past the horror of that day," she said. "It's something that I will always live with."