Day 67 - June 24, 2015

The Court outlined its sentencing responsibilities and adopted the unopposed Guidelines calculation recommending life imprisonment for the controlling non-capital counts. It noted that the recommendation would remain life imprisonment without the terrorism enhancement. Survivors and relatives described deaths, lasting injuries, grief, medical expenses, and disrupted family and working lives. Their views on punishment and recovery differed. Jennifer Rogers requested strict, consecutive sentences for non-capital offenses; William Richard said his family had preferred a lifetime for reconciliation. Other speakers called for remorse, expressed forgiveness, or described their determination not to be defined by their injuries. Weinreb requested death sentences on six counts, imprisonment on the remaining counts, and financial penalties. After a lunch recess, Clarke stated that Tsarnaev had offered to resolve the case without trial in October 2013 and provided an apology letter in January 2014. She raised objections to restitution and forfeiture and disputed proposed execution judgment language. The Court selected Indiana as the implementing state, citing the federal death-row institution at Terre Haute. Tsarnaev admitted committing the bombing with his brother and apologized for the lives taken, suffering caused, and irreparable damage. The Court then imposed the jury-designated death sentences on Counts 4, 5, 9, 10, 14 and 15, along with life sentences and fixed prison terms. The oral enumeration lists Count 27 in two sentencing groups and does not list Count 28. The Court imposed no fines or supervised release, ordered a $3,000 mandatory assessment, granted preliminary forfeiture, and directed that restitution be determined by September 22, 2015. It ordered custody pending appeal and sentence review, with eventual implementation of the death sentence under Indiana law.