Boston--The defense disputed little evidence in the guilt phase of the trial, but have deployed dozens of witnesses in an attempt to save him from the death penalty by portraying older brother Tamerlan as the real culprit.
Tamerlan, 26, was shot dead by police while on the run. Government prosecutors say that Tsarnaev acted of his own free will as an adult.
The defendant, a 19-year-old student at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth at the time of the attacks, has showed no emotion during his trial, except for when an elderly aunt wept on the stand.
He sat motionless, staring at the table in front of him Wednesday as assistant US attorney Steve Mellin said he deserved to die.
The prosecutor referred to a bloody note that he wrote, justifying the attacks to avenge America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"No remorse, no apology. Those are the words of a terrorist convinced he has done the right thing. He felt justified in killing, maiming and seriously injuring innocent men, women and children," Mellin said.
The trial heard harrowing testimony from relatives of the dead, including the father of the youngest victim eight-year-old Martin Richard and Mellin stressed the "excruciating" injuries of amputated survivors.
Prosecutors rubbished any suggestion that America's most maximum security jail, ADX Florence in Colorado, would be a worse punishment than death.
AFP
