Boston was the scene of a short, but tense, court hearing on Wednesday when Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzokhar Tsarnaev appeared in court to put in a plea of not guilty.
Tsarnaev’s appearance was the first since he was captured on April 19, days after the April 15 bombing at the marathon. The bombing, allegedly carried out with his older brother Tamerlan, killed three people and left hundreds injured. On the morning of April 19, they were also involved in a shootout with police and killed an MIT security officer.
Last month prosecutors indicted Tsarnaev, 19, on 30 charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction. All 30 charges have a penalty of life in prison and 17 could bring the death penalty, notes USA Today.
According to Boston.com, 30 bominbg victims attended the hearing, many of them wearing marathon gear. Tsarnaev was ordered by US Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler to enter his plea himself. He said “not guilty” seven times. He wore an orange prison jumpsuit and a cast on his left arm. He also showed a scar on his neck that may have been the result of the shootout with police.
Outside the courtroom, MIT police chief John DiFava told the media that he hopes Tsarnaev gets the death penalty. “The man deserves to die if he’s found guilty,” he said, reports the Boston Herald. “He’s guilty of killing other people. He’s guilty of inflicting hurt on other people. Where does it stop? We let him live at our expense, for the rest of his life? I’m sorry. He deserves the death penalty.”