Boston Marathon Bombings Update: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev charged, will not be tried as enemy combatant

(CBS/AP) - The White House announced Monday that the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect will not be tried as an enemy combatant by a military tribunal, but rather in a federal civilian court.

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Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was charged on Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction. 

A federal magistrate conducted the initial hearing at Beth Israel Deaconess, the hospital where Tsarnaev is receiving treatment.

Tsarnaev, an American citizen, was badly wounded either in the April 18 police shootout which left his brother, Tamerlan, dead, or during the events of the next day which led to his capture.

Authorities suspect that Tsarnaev and his brother are responsible for the twin bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon that left three people dead and more than 170 injured last Monday. They also suspect the two are responsible for the death of an MIT officer whom they allegedly ambushed, leading to the shootout in which Tamerlan was fatally wounded.

At a press conference Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that under U.S. law U.S. citizens cannot be tried in military commissions. Tsarnaev is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Carney says that since Sept. 11, 2001, the federal court system has been used to convict and incarcerate hundreds of terrorists.

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