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Boston Marathon bombing trial penalty phase begins

By Amy R. Connolly

BOSTON, April 21 (UPI) -- Opening statements in the final penalty phase of the Boston Marathon bombing trial will begin Tuesday. Prosecutors are asking the jury to sentence Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to death.

Tsarnaev's defense team will ask the federal court jury to spare his life by sentencing him to life in prison with no chance of parole.

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Earlier this month, Tsarnaev, 21, was found guilty on 30 counts in the 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon that killed three and injured 260. The conviction included 17 counts that carry the death penalty.

Jurors will be asked to look at the prosecution's reasons for the death penalty and weigh them against any defense factors, including the role Tsarnaev's older brother Tamerian played in attack. All 12 members of the jury must agree on any decision for the death penalty. Anything less means life in prison.

Tsarnaev's attorneys will argue he was 19 at the time of the bombing and from a tough family that radicalized him.

"They're going to characterize him as a flaky young man from a tough family, a family where he didn't get much mother or father attention, where he was influenced by his brother," Prof. Robert Bloom of Boston College Law School told NBC News.

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Several victims and family members have come forward and asked his life be spared. The family of the youngest victim, 8-year-old Martin Richard, issued an appeal to give Tsarnaev life in prison with no chance for appeal.

"We can never replace what was taken from us, but we can continue to get up every morning and fight another day. As long as the defendant is in the spotlight, we have no choice but to live a story told on his terms, not ours," the family said.

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