Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev apologized to his victims for the first time at a highly emotional court hearing Wednesday where he was formally sentenced to death for the 2013 attacks.
The US citizen of Chechen descent was sentenced to death on six counts for perpetrating the Marathon bombings, one of the bloodiest assaults on US soil since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"I would like to now apologize to the victims and to the survivors," said the 21-year-old former university student in his first public remarks since the April 15, 2013 bombings that killed three people.
"I am guilty," he said in a slight Russian accent, standing pale and thin in a dark blazer. "Let there be no doubt about that."
"I am sorry for the lives I have taken, for the suffering, the damage that I have done," he said, couching his remarks in the name of Allah and asking for God's forgiveness.
Judge George O'Toole officially imposed the death sentence, which had been reached unanimously by a 12-person jury on May 15 after prosecutors painted Tsarnaev as a remorseless terrorist.
"I sentence you to the penalty of death by execution," O'Toole told Tsarnaev, before he was led away by US Marshals.
Tsarnaev will eventually sit on federal death row in Terre Haute, Indiana, but prosecutors say he could be sent first to America's only "super-max" prison, ADX Florence, in Colorado.
Defense lawyer Judy Clarke told the court that Tsarnaev had offered to plead guilty last year, but Wednesday's remarks were the first time that her client had expressed any remorse in public.
CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ON TSARNAEV'S DEATH SENTENCE
'Despicable choices'
Survivors were divided on whether his apology was genuine. Lynn Julian said his remarks "were sort of shocking" and denied that he had shown proper remorse or regret.
"A sincere apology would've been nice," she told reporters.
But Henry Borgard, who was a student on his way home from work when he was injured in the bombings, was one of the few to forgive and said that he had been "really deeply moved" by Tsarnaev's remarks.
"I have forgiven him. I have come to a place of peace and I genuinely hope that he does as well," he said.
"I'm going to take it on faith that what he said was genuine."
But government prosecutors criticized Tsarnaev, who showed little emotion during the trial, for invoking Allah, and said he had not renounced terrorism or repudiated violent extremism.
On Wednesday 24 victims and their relatives made harrowing impact statements, some in tears, as they described their grief, pain, financial problems and how the attacks brutally changed their lives.
Outside the court house, police arrested a young man who allegedly had a meat cleaver stashed in his car. He is being investigated for any possible terrorism link, the FBI said.
The bombings wounded 264 people, including 17 who lost limbs, near the finish line at the northeastern city's popular marathon.
"The choices you made were despicable," said Patricia Campbell, whose daughter Krystle was killed.
"What you did to my daughter was disgusting. The jury did the right thing," she said, addressing Tsarnaev directly.
'He chose hate'
Bill Richard, the father of the youngest victim, eight-year-old Martin, said he would have preferred Tsarnaev receive a life sentence but said the attacks were "all on him".
Tsarnaev, Richard said, could have stopped his brother, changed his mind and "walked away with a minimal sense of humanity."
"He chose hate. He chose destruction. He chose death," Richard said. "We choose love. We choose kindness. We choose peace. That is what makes us different."
The judge told Tsarnaev that his name would only ever be remembered for the horrors that he inflicted.
The death penalty verdict was a stinging defeat for the defense, who argued that Tsarnaev was a "lost kid" who had been manipulated by his older brother, Tamerlan.
Tamerlan was shot dead on the run before Tsarnaev was arrested.
He was found, injured, in a grounded boat on which he had scrawled a bloody message defending the attacks as a means to avenge US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The death sentence is possible only under federal law. The state of Massachusetts outlawed capital punishment in 1947 and opinion polls had suggested residents favored a life sentence for Tsarnaev.
AFP
Thu Jun 25 2015
TSARNAEV: I am sorry for the lives I have taken, for the suffering, the damage that I have done. - afp PIC
Microsoft OneDrive versi web kini sokong mod luar talian
Mod ini membenarkan pengguna yang kekangan akses Internet untuk mengakses Home, My files, Shared, Favorites, People, dan Meeting dengan lebih mudah.
Pantau Agenda Reformasi: Tidak cukup belajar di sekolah?
Benarkah kanak-kanak Malaysia tak cukup belajar sedangkan jadual pembelajaran yang panjang di sekolah ketika guru turut terbabit dalam banyak program babitkan pelajar?
Dr Anuar Ahmad, Pensyarah Kanan Pusat Kajian Kepelbagaian Pendidikan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
Dr Anuar Ahmad, Pensyarah Kanan Pusat Kajian Kepelbagaian Pendidikan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
Ekonomi Asia Pasifik dijangka alami pemulihan bertahap - IMF
Walaupun ekonomi rantau Asia Pasifik berkembang 5 peratus tahun lepas, pertumbuhan dijangka perlahan kepada 4.5 peratus tahun ini dan 4.3 peratus pada 2025.
Tinjauan EY: Gen Z, milenial sanggup berbelanja untuk produk mampan
: Tinjauan itu mendapati sebanyak 81 peratus daripada pengguna tenaga di Malaysia yakin mereka melaksanakan tanggungjawab untuk menggalakkan kemampanan, 85 peratus percaya bahawa penyedia tenaga bertanggungjawab untuk menguruskan penggunaan tenaga mampan, manakala 31 peratus tidak bersedia untuk berbelanja lebih tinggi untuk produk mampan.
Nestle Malaysia: Saham meningkat kepada paras tertinggi lapan bulan
Tinjauan itu mendapati sebanyak 81 peratus daripada pengguna tenaga di Malaysia yakin mereka melaksanakan tanggungjawab untuk menggalakkan kemampanan, 85 peratus percaya bahawa penyedia tenaga bertanggungjawab untuk menguruskan penggunaan tenaga mampan, manakala 31 peratus tidak bersedia untuk berbelanja lebih tinggi untuk produk mampan.
Sime Darby Plantation cadang tukar nama kepada SD Guthrie
Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (SD Plantation) mengumumkan hasrat untuk menukar nama jenamanya kepada SD Guthrie Bhd.
Trend harga di Malaysia makin mahal - Inflasi, indeks harga pengeluar naik pada Feb dan Mac - DOSM
Trend harga di Malaysia memperlihatkan peningkatan inflasi 1.8% pada Februari 2024 selepas tiga bulan berturut-turut dilaporkan pada kadar 1.5 peratus.
Aset rizab rasmi Malaysia berjumlah AS$113.76 bilion
BNM berkata bagi tempoh 12 bulan akan datang, aliran keluar jangka pendek yang telah dikenal pasti bagi pinjaman, sekuriti dan deposit mata wang asing termasuk aliran keluar jangka pendek ini termasuk pembayaran balik berjadual peminjaman luar negara oleh kerajaan dan kematangan Bil Antara Bank dalam mata wang asing Bank Negara berjumlah US$13.24 bilion.
[TERKINI] Lima cedera dalam serangan bersenjata di London
Lima individu cedera dalam satu insiden serangan bersenjata di London pada pagi Selasa.
Pihak berkuasa memberitahu, seorang lelaki berusia 36 tahun ditahan kerana dipercayai melakukan serangan menggunakan pedang itu.
Pihak berkuasa memberitahu, seorang lelaki berusia 36 tahun ditahan kerana dipercayai melakukan serangan menggunakan pedang itu.
Lelaki berpedang serang orang awam di London, lima cedera
Satu serangan bersenjatakan pedang dilapor berlaku berdekatan stesen keretapi bawah tanah di Hainault, timur laut London, menyebabkan sekurang-kurangnya lima cedera akibat ditikam.
Wisma Putra: Rakyat Malaysia tidak terjejas
Kementerian Luar Negeri akan terus memantau perkembangan terkini setelah siri letupan bom berlaku tidak jauh dari garisan penamat di acara larian Boston Marathon.