Gerry Leone: 'Not Going To Be A Surprise' If Tsarnaev Doesn't Receive Death Penalty
BOSTON (CBS) – Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been found guilty on all 30 counts related to the Boston Marathon bombings. But it is not guaranteed that he will receive the death penalty.
Read: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Convicted In Boston Marathon Bombings
WBZ-TV Legal Analyst and Nixon Peabody LLP Partner Gerry Leone said on Wednesday that it may be difficult to sentence Tsarnaev to death, even though there is now officially no doubt that he willingly participated in the 2013 bombings.
"I think it is not going to be a surprise to see a jury reject the death penalty in this case," said Leone, who added that if Tsarnaev is sentenced to death he likely would not be executed for several years.
Leone said it is likely the graphic nature of testimony could have an impact on jurors during the death penalty phase of the trial.
"I absolutely believe that the nature of the carnage, the injury and the death in this case will impact how the jury views the defense and how hard they personally push back on what the defense presents as mitigation because it's all a balance," said Leone.
"They'll weigh mitigation versus aggravation. Every time there's a mitigating circumstance presented, the prosecution wants them to come back and consider those extremely aggravating circumstances."
While he doesn't believe the prosecution should lessen the amount of graphic testimony it presents to the jury, he did say that a trial such as the one being presented now can be difficult for jurors to sit through.
"People get numbed by seeing things on the news, they get numbed by watching movies," said Leone. "This is no movie. This is real. And all of the injuries that we saw displayed during the course of this trial were real people who suffered real injuries and death."
