Dzhokhar Tsarnaev blames brother as defense in Boston Bombing

After weeks of dramatic testimony, jurors are set to begin deliberations Tuesday in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who faces life in prison or the death penalty for working with his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the bombing at the 2013 Boston Marathon.

The defense and prosecution made closing arguments in the case on Monday.

The Tsarnaev brothers were never tied to a mosque because the FBI have been barred from investigating them

“The defendant brought terrorism into the backyards and main streets,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Aloke Chakravarty said. “The defendant thought that his values were more important than the people around him. He wanted to awake the mujahideen, the holy warriors, so he chose Patriots Day, Marathon Monday,” a time for families to gather and watch the marathon.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev “Russian facebook page”

The courtroom was full of bomb survivors and victims’ family members, many just wiped away tears and comforted each other during the hearing.

The prosecutor showed a picture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan in the marathon crowd.

The day of the bombings, Chakravarty said, “they felt they were soldiers. They were the mujahideen and they were bringing their battle to Boston.”

Tsarnaev, 21 years old, stands accused of 30 counts, including setting off weapons of mass destruction at a public event as an act of terrorism. Seventeen of those counts carry a sentence of death or life imprisonment.

“It was Tamerlan,” defense attorney Clarke repeated during her closing argument Monday, attempting to pass blame.

“In the past few weeks we have come face to face with tragedy, suffering and grief in dimensions none of us could imagine,” she said. “We’ve heard words, we’ve heard screams and we’ve heard cries. For this suffering and pain there is no excuse.”

She acknowledged her client participated in a “senseless act.”

But he was only following his brother, she insisted.

“If not for Tamerlan, it would not have happened,” Clarke argued.

During the 15-minute rebuttal period, prosecutor William Weinreb told jurors not to be distracted by the defense’s “attempt to point the finger at somebody else.”

“There should be no doubt in your mind that the defendant and his brother are equally guilty,” he said. They were “partners in crime.”

Weinreb pointed out that after the bombing Tsarnaev went to the grocery store.

“Tamerlan Tsarnaev didn’t turn his brother into a murderer. To shred the bodies of women and children with a homemade type of bomb, you have to be different from other people,” the prosecutor said.

“If you are capable of such hate, such callousness that you can murder and maim 20 people and then drive to Whole Foods and buy some milk, can you really blame it on your brother?”