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BOSTON, May 15 (UPI) -- Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death Friday after a jury deliberated for more than 16 hours. Tsarnaev, 21, who was convicted last month on 30 federal charges, including 17 that carried the death penalty, was sentenced to death by lethal injection on six counts, The Boston Globe reported.
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Tsarnaev showed no visible reaction as the sentence was read.
Three people were killed and more than 260 injured, including more than a dozen who lost limbs, when two bombs exploded near the marathon finish line on April 15, 2013. A police officer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was killed days later.
Jarrod Clowery, a survivor of the bombing told CNN he stands behind the jury's verdict.
"For all the victims and all the survivors of that day, whether it brings closure or not, me and my family our hearts and our best wishes go out to all of them," he said.
"As far as I go personally, it's a tough job," Clowery said of the jury's decision. "I'm just glad I didn't have to do it or go through it."
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch released a statement calling Tsarnaev's punishment "fitting."
"We know all too well that no verdict can heal the souls of those who lost loved ones, nor the minds and bodies of those who suffered life-changing injuries from this cowardly attack," she said. "But the ultimate penalty is a fitting punishment for this horrific crime and we hope that the completion of this prosecution will bring some measure of closure to the victims and their families."
Because Tsarnaev received the death penalty, his case will automatically be appealed to a higher court. This appeals process could take years to complete.
Tsarnaev's case marks the first time the federal government has achieved a death penalty sentence since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in a terrorism case. There has been a moratorium on federal executions since 2011 pending a review of the government's protocol by the Justice Department.
In the meantime, Tsarnaev will likely be sent to death row in Terra Haute, Ind.
The 12-person jury -- five men and seven women -- began deliberations on Wednesday and were tasked with completing a 24-page, eight-part verdict form that weighted the aggravating factors, which is the government's case against Tsarnaev, against the mitigating factors, which represented the defense's case. The jury had the choice between life in prison and the death penalty.
Some aggravating factors included Tsarnaev knowingly created a risk of death to the victims, the offense was an "especially heinous, cruel and depraved manner in that it involved serious physical abuse to the victim" and he intentionally killed or attempted to kill more than one person in a single crime.
Among the mitigating factors were Tsarnaev's age (he was 19 at the time), no prior history of violence and the influence of his older brother Tamerlan, 26, who was shot dead while on the run from police after the bombing.
During the three-week trial, jurors, all Boston-area residents, heard from 63 witnesses, including Tsarnaev's relatives, friends and former teachers. During the deliberations on Thursday, jurors sent notes to the judge asking questions related to parts of the verdict form.
The jury was able to unanimously decide to sentence him to death on all 17 counts that carried the death penalty, sentence him to death on only one of the counts, sentence him to life in prison or not reach a unanimous verdict.
The Tsarnaev family, ethnic Chechens, moved to the United States more than a decade ago. Dzhokhar was 8 at the time and was known as a generally good kid and a stellar athlete. When he graduated high school in 2011, he won a $2,500 scholarship and enrolled in a local college to study nursing. On Sept. 11, 2012, he took the oath to become an American citizen.
Tamerlan, on the other hand, was struggling with the new life in America. He was once a top Golden Gloves boxer but fell away from the sport as he felt increasingly disconnected from his new life and the people in America. In the years that followed he became angry and moved toward a radicalized life, family members told CBS News.
