Tsarnaev Wanted to Punish America, Boston Trial Hears

Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a callous terrorist who carried out the 2013 attack to wage holy war and punish America, the prosecutor argued Monday as his trial neared an end.

Three people were killed and 264 others wounded in the twin blasts at the city's marathon -- the worst attack in the United States since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Tsarnaev's defense has not denied he took part in the attack, and his fate hinges on whether it has convinced jurors he was bullied into this by his older brother, or was an active plotter.

"He wanted to terrorize this country. He wanted to punish America for what it was doing to his people," assistant US attorney Aloke Chakravarty told the court in an emotional closing statement after a one-month trial.

Tsarnaev, a Muslim American of Chechen descent who was a 19-year-old university student at the time, faces the death penalty if convicted.

"That day they felt their were soldiers, that they were mujahideen and they were bringing their battle to Boston," added Chakravarty.

Prosecutors spent four weeks building their case, calling 92 witnesses in an effort to paint Tsarnaev as an active and willing bomber alongside his elder brother, who was killed while on the run.

They portrayed a cold, callous killer -- a marijuana-smoking, laid-back student who had recently failed a number of exams and become an avid reader of the Islamist literature that investigators found on his computer.

Chakravarty showed the jury photographs and video clips, filling the court with the screams of victims, as the camera closed in on blood on the ground, the panic, fear and chaos after the April 15, 2013 attacks.

Government prosecutors say Tsarnaev carried out the attacks to avenge the deaths of fellow Muslims overseas after learning how to build pressure-cooker bombs through al-Qaida English-language magazine "Inspire."

Eight-year-old Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, 29, and Lingzi Lu, 23, were killed in the bombings.

Jurors were shown photographs of Tsarnaev casually buying milk just minutes after the bombings, then laughing and joking with friends.

- 'He did what terrorists do' - 

Chakravarty read aloud from a message he left in a boat in a suburban garden, the hideout where the defendant was arrested four days after the attacks

This appears to justify the bombings by criticizing the U.S. government over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Ultimately he did what terrorists do... he wanted to tell the world why he did it. He wanted to take credit," Chakravarty said.

Tsarnaev, wearing an open-necked button-down shirt and dark blazer, sat still as the prosecutor faced the jury.

Judge George O'Toole spent one hour, 15 minutes Monday outlining the law to the 18-person jury as part of incredibly detailed jury instructions.

He explained each element of 30 separate counts related to the April 15, 2013 attacks, and the subsequent murder of a police officer, a car jacking and a shootout with police while on Tsarnaev was on the run.

Seventeen of those charges carry the possibility of the death penalty under federal law. Three of the 30 charges are conspiracy and 27 are substantive offenses. Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to all.

The defense will later Monday follow the prosecution in making their closing statement, before O'Toole advises the jury further on the evidence.

The defense called just four witnesses during the trial. Lawyer Judy Clark admitted he was responsible for the bombings, telling jurors in her opening statement: "It was him."

Her team sought to portray the older Tamerlan as the architect of the bombings, arguing that his younger sibling had fallen helplessly under his influence.

If Tsarnaev is convicted, the trial will enter a second stage when the jury determines whether he should be executed or spend the rest of his life behind bars without parole -- the only sentencing options available.

Born in Kyrgyzstan, Tsarnaev took US citizenship in 2012.