BOSTON (CBS) – The terrible sights and sounds the jury endured during phase one of the Boston Marathon bombing trial were likely – and unfortunately for them – just a preview of what is to come next.
Read: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Convicted In Boston Marathon Bombings
“A very important part of the prosecution’s presentation at the death penalty phase is hearing from the victims and or survivors, and we’ll hear some of the most compelling stories,” WBZ legal analyst and Nixon Peabody LLP partner Gerry Leone said.
Phase two is the prosecution’s chance to convince jurors that the death penalty is the only option for convicted murderer Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Both sides will present opening statements and the government will make its case first.
The second portion of the trial will look a lot like phase one, though Leone said the second trial will include new victim witnesses.
Next, the defense will offer an enhanced case compared to what they offered in phase one. The trial will once again end with closing arguments and a second round of jury deliberations.
Leone said Tsarnaev’s defense team is likely to get much more aggressive.
“The defense side of the case will be markedly different,” he explained. “It will be much longer. There will be several witnesses, there will be evidence, all in an attempt for them to establish mitigation.”
Leone thinks the defense will focus on three areas – the influence and power Tamerlan Tsarnaev had over his little brother, the fact that Dzhokhar was only 19 at the time of the bombings, and his troubled family life with chaotic history of immigration.
The defense’s overall goal is to convince at least one juror choose life in prison over the death penalty. If the jury isn’t unanimous about the death penalty, then Tsarnaev will live.
