2.Jury Discharge and Post-Verdict Guidance

THE COURT: All right. Have a seat again.

So, as I was saying, I want to thank you for your service. And I express that thanks not only on my own behalf, which I do sincerely, but more importantly, on behalf of the citizens of Massachusetts whom you represent for the purposes of this trial.

We ask of our fellow citizens active engagement and participation in the work of self-government. In particular, we ask our fellow citizens to participate in administering justice fairly and impartially by sitting as trial jurors. We asked of you the important and difficult task of judging the evidence in this case and of rendering a just verdict guided by your best judgment.

I want especially to commend the alternate jurors. After all the time and attention you gave in listening to the evidence, you learned that you would not be part of the decision. That must be frustrating. Perhaps it is a relief. In any event, it is necessary to have alternates available, and your service has been just as vital to the process as that of the deliberating jurors.

The inconvenience to all of you in serving on this case has been considerable, yet you have each borne that inconvenience with grace and understanding. The seriousness and responsibility with which you have performed your service as jurors should stand as a model for future juries.

Abraham Lincoln once said, "There is no grievance that is a fit object for redress by mob law." Your service as jurors in this case has been the very antithesis of mob law. The issues have been thoroughly presented to you, and you have thoughtfully resolved them. Obviously, the facts and circumstances of this case arouse powerful emotions, but on behalf of a community seriously aggrieved, you have demonstrated convincingly that even in such circumstances, men and women of honesty and goodwill can set aside emotions and make careful, rational and solemn judgments about guilt or innocence and life or death. You can, you should, be justly proud of your service in this case.

Let me address a couple of practical matters. You are well aware of my instructions to avoid any reports in the media about this case. The media and the members of the general public attending this trial have been under similar instructions to refrain from attempting in any way to contact or interact with you at any time during the trial. Additionally, they're prevented from revealing your names and depicting you by photograph or sketch.

I imposed these rules to help you focus on the issues before you and the evidence you've heard in the courtroom without being distracted or potentially influenced by anything that might take place outside the courtroom. From my understanding, the media and the public have abided by these instructions, and I thank them for helping maintain the integrity of the proceedings by doing so.

Until now your names and places of residence have not been made public, and you have been identified through the process only by your juror number. Under applicable law, because your service in the case is now completed, we can no longer refrain from identifying you.

The courts have recognized that in a democracy, criminal trials should not as a general rule be decided by juries that remain anonymous, so your names and towns and cities of residence will eventually be made public. That will not happen immediately, but it will likely happen in the relatively near future.

Additionally, at some point redacted versions of your juror questionnaire will likely be made public. Strictly private personal information will be redacted, and that will likely take some time, but answers such as your views about the death penalty, for example, will become public. We will notify you before that occurs.

Second, it is likely that people will want to talk with you now about your service as jurors in the case including media representatives. You are now free to talk with your family and friends about the case and your experience in jury service. You're also free to answer media questions, if you wish.

You should understand that whether to answer media questions is entirely your call. You have no obligation to do so. You may politely decline by simply saying, "No comment." If, after you have indicated that you do not wish to comment, anyone persists in a way that makes you uncomfortable, please contact our jury administrator, and he will assist you. On a related point, under the law of this circuit, the parties and their attorneys and other agents may not approach you to talk with you about your service without prior express permission from me.

For anyone who does make the decision to speak publicly about the case, I would ask you to keep in mind your fellow jurors and the experience you have shared. You have traveled together and eaten together. It may not be too much to say that you have formed some friendships. You've sat through a long trial together that involved at times terrible images and poignant testimony. The deliberating jurors have spent days in undoubtedly intense discussions with each other to determine not only whether Mr. Tsarnaev was responsible for the crimes charged by the government, but also whether he should live or die.

I ask you that you respect each other and the process of your decision-making as you consider whether to discuss the case publicly. There is a reason that jury deliberations are conducted in secret. Secrecy encourages the most frank discussion of the issues. For this reason, secrecy of deliberations is a hallmark of the jury system. It is why you deliberate in the jury room alone without any court personnel; why you have been asked to seal your partially completed or completed verdict slip at the end of each day; and why a member of the clerk's office will now shred your juror notebooks and any of the notes you've made now that you've rendered your verdict.

It is not unreasonable for jurors to expect that what they say in deliberations will be held in confidence by their fellow jurors. And there are implications beyond this case. Future jurors in future cases should be able to enter into service with the confidence that what they say in private deliberations will remain private.

Regarding this concern, the Supreme Court of the United States has said: "Freedom of debate might be stifled and independence of thought checked if jurors were made to feel that their arguments and ballots were to be freely published to the world." I ask that you keep those considerations in mind in deciding whether to speak publicly about the case, and specifically, about the substance of private jury discussions.

Let me also make a suggestion for you to consider if you decide to discuss the case publicly. You could decide not only whether to talk about it, but also when to do so. Even if you are willing to discuss the case publicly, you should consider whether it would be better even from your own point of view to take some time to let your experience settle in so that you have an opportunity to compose your thoughts as to any questions that might be asked rather than speaking more or less off the cuff or on the spur of the moment.

Before we recess, I would like to commend all the attorneys in this matter. As we should expect, their advocacy has been both zealous and skillful, and they've conducted themselves with the highest degree of professionalism and civility in a difficult case under intense scrutiny. I also acknowledge that the defendant, Mr. Tsarnaev, has comported himself with composure and propriety in the courtroom, both in and outside the presence of the jury and the public.

Finally, I address the representatives of the media and the members of the public who have come to watch and report on the proceedings. Some of you have come for yourselves, some have come for others. Still others have come to share with the world what has been happening within this trial courtroom. We appreciate your respectful presence and your understanding of the solemnity of these proceedings. I also must note with respect to our daily scheduling that justice is not always swift, nor should it be, and I appreciate your enduring patience.

And so, jurors, that's it. You are now discharged. All in this courtroom will rise once more as a sign of respect for your service in this case as you withdraw to the jury room for the last time.

Please rise.

THE COURT: The defendant is remanded to the custody of the marshal. We will stand in recess. We will probably set a status conference in the near future to discuss future proceedings.

We'll be in recess.