Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Sentenced to Death: 'I Am Sorry'

By Staff Writer | Jun 25, 2015 | 06:43 AM EDT

The 21-year old Boston Marathon bomber has been formally sentenced to death by lethal injection despite apologizing to his victims during the federal court hearing in Boston on Wednesday.

During the sentence hearing, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev spoke publicly for the first time since his arrest in 2013. Tsarnaev read a prepared text shortly before he was formally sentenced to death by the jury, according to Yahoo.

Tsarnaev began his speech by mentioning Allah and the blessed month of Ramadan.

"I would like to now apologize to the victims, to the survivors," he said to the courtroom packed with people.

"Immediately after the bombing, which I am guilty of - if there's any lingering doubt about that, let there be no more. I did do it along with my brother - I learned of some of the victims. I learned their names, their faces, their age. And throughout this trial more of those victims were given names, more of those victims had faces, and they had burdened souls."

"Now, I am sorry for the lives that I've taken, for the suffering that I've caused you, for the damage that I've done. Irreparable damage."

He mentioned his religion and Allah to bring mercy upon those that were victims of the bombing. Tsarnaev also added that he is praying for relief, healing, well-being and the strength of the survivors and their families, according to Time.

Tsarnaev concluded his speech by asking Allah to have mercy on him, his brother, his family and those that were present during the hearing,

Presiding Judge George O'Toole then addressed Tsarnaev before he sentenced the 21-year-old to death by lethal injection. The convicted was then cuffed by U.S. Marshals and then led out of the courtroom.

The apology was met with many mixed reviews as there were some who cried during the apology and many who found Tsarnaev to have no remorse as his speech was "hard to believe" especially by the survivors and their families, according to CNN.

On April 15, 2013, two bombings happened during the 117th Boston Marathon leaving more than 250 people wounded and killing off three people. The dead victims were Krystle Campbell, 29, Chinese graduate student Lu Lingzi, and Martin Richards, 8.

During the intense manhunt that followed the bombingz, Boston police captured Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was 19 years old by then. He was a suspect at the time, along with his 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died after a shootout on the same day the younger Tsarnaev was captured, according to History.

Related Stories

Latest News