Jury’s makeup viewed as critical in Tsarnaev case

Associated Press

BOSTON

To try to save him from the death penalty in the Boston Marathon bombing, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyers probably will look for jurors who are intellectually curious and eager to learn about other cultures and religions.

Prosecutors, in turn, no doubt will try to pick conservative, patriotic types who have steady work habits, have lived comfortable lives and are particularly sensitive to the randomness of the terror attack.

Such is the conventional wisdom among jury consultants and other legal experts who say the question of whether Tsarnaev receives a death sentence will be all but decided during jury selection.

Tsarnaev, 21, is accused of taking part in the twin bombing at the finish line of the race April 15, 2013, killing three people and wounding more than 260. He also is charged in the slaying of an MIT police officer.

Prosecutors say Dzhokhar and his brother, Tamerlan — ethnic Chechens who had lived in the United States for about a decade — carried out the attack in retaliation for U.S. wars in Muslim countries. Tamerlan, 26, died in a gunbattle with police days after the bombing.

Given the evidence against Dzhokhar — including incriminating graffiti on the boat where he was captured, and video of him planting a backpack at the site of the one of the blasts — legal experts say there is little doubt he will be found guilty.

They say his lawyers are concentrating instead on saving him from a death sentence from the jury during the penalty phase.