"Don't go to the Boston Marathon." That was a judge's direct order this week to the jurors in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial who will be deciding the convicted bomber's fate at sentencing on April 21.
U.S. District Judge George O'Toole gave that instruction to the jury Tuesday and told them the punishment phase — in which they'll be deciding whether to sentence the 21-year-old Tsarnaev to death — could
last as long as four weeks, Boston.com reported.
Last week the jury found Tsarnaev guilty on all of the 30 counts in which he was charged in connection to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people and injured more than 260.
O'Toole also instructed the jurors to avoid media coverage of the Wednesday
marathon and its ceremonies, according to NBC News. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh scheduled a moment of silence for the 2013 race victims to take place before the starting shot.
Walsh encouraged residents and businesses to "share how they are marking 'One Boston Day' on social media," a statement from the mayor's office said, NBC News noted.
"One Boston Day" was created as "a new tradition to honor the resiliency, generosity, and strength of the
City of Boston," a statement from Walsh's office said.
"'One Boston Day' will encourage random acts of kindness and spreading goodwill," the mayor's office said. "The new tradition came together in compilation with the desire expressed by many survivors to pass on the kindness, generosity, and support they received following the 2013 Boston Marathon."
Tsarnaev could receive the federal death penalty during the punishment phase of the trial. Some of the survivors said they welcomed the guilty
verdicts against him last week, according to the Boston Globe.
"We are thankful that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be held accountable for the evil that he brought to so many families," said a statement from the family of MIT police officer Sean Collier, who was killed in an attempted carjacking by the Tsarnaev brothers after the bombing.
"The strength and bond that everyone has shown during these last two years proves that if these terrorists thought they would somehow strike fear in the hearts of people, they monumentally failed," the statement continued.
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