Boston Marathon bombing trial: Penalty phase will start day after 2015 Marathon

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces the possibility of the death penalty

(Getty Images)

Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will face the sentencing phase of his trial starting 21 April, the day after the 2015 edition of the famous marathon will be held, according to the US District Attorney’s Office.

In the first phase of the trial, Tsarnaev was found guilty on all 30 counts he faced, including 17 charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty. The same jury will sit for the sentencing phase and will decide if Tsarnaev is sentenced to death or life in prison.

Tsarnaev was found guilty for his role in the bombing at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon, which killed three people and injured more than 260, and the subsequent manhunt that shut down Boston. Tsarnaev’s older brother Tamerlan was killed in a shootout with police during the manhunt.

The younger Tsarnaev eventually was found bloody inside a boat in the backyard of a residential neighbourhood.

It is not clear if opening the sentencing phase the day after the 2015 Boston Marathon is symbolic, but a court order says it is common for a break to separate the two trial phases.

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