On April 22, Tsarnaev was charged via a complaint with "using and
conspiring to use a
weapon of mass destruction resulting in death" and with "malicious destruction of properties resulting in death", both in connection with the Boston Marathon attacks. He was read his
Miranda rights at his bedside by a federal magistrate judge of the
United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, nodded his head to answer the judge's questions, and answered "no" when asked whether he could afford a lawyer. Some of the charges were death-penalty eligible.
Middlesex County prosecutors also brought criminal charges against Tsarnaev for the murder of Sean Collier. A surveillance camera at MIT captured the brothers approaching Collier's car from behind. Tsarnaev's arraignment for 30 charges, including four counts of murder, occurred on July 10, 2013, in federal court in Boston before
U.S. magistrate judge Marianne Bowler. It was his first public court appearance. However, the exception was not considered by the court because the prosecutors later decided not to use those statements in their case. In January 2015, CNN reported that plea negotiations had failed when the government refused to rule out the possibility of the death penalty.
Trial The trial began on January 5, 2015. Tsarnaev was prosecuted by assistant
U.S. attorneys William Weinreb and Aloke Chakravarty, of the Anti-Terrorism and National Security Unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston. William Fick, and
Judy Clarke. Tsarnaev pleaded not guilty to all thirty charges laid against him. Judge
George O'Toole presided over the trial. Counter-terrorism expert
Matthew Levitt gave testimony in March 2015. On April 8, 2015, Tsarnaev was found guilty on all thirty counts of the indictment. The charges of usage of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, in addition to aiding and abetting, made Tsarnaev eligible for the death penalty. Tsarnaev, who had displayed little emotion throughout his trial, appeared to weep when his relatives testified on his behalf on May 4, 2015. Bill and Denise Richard, parents of Martin Richard (the youngest of the three killed in the bombings and one of the two people killed by Dzhokhar's bomb, the other person being Chinese-exchange student Lingzi Lu), urged against a death sentence for Tsarnaev. They stated that the lengthy appeals period would force them to continually relive that day, and would rather see Tsarnaev spend life in prison without parole (possibility of release), and waive his right to appeal. According to the verdict forms completed by the jurors, three of 12 believed that Tsarnaev had taken part in the attack under his brother's influence; two believed that he had been remorseful for his actions; two believed that Tamerlan, not Dzhokhar, had shot and killed Officer Collier; three believed that his friends still care about him; one believed that Tsarnaev's mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, was to be blamed for the brothers' actions; one believed that Tsarnaev would never be violent again in prison. On June 24, 2015, Tsarnaev faced his living victims in court as his death sentence was formally delivered. Victims and their families presented impact statements to the court. Tsarnaev, who had been silent throughout his month-long trial, admitted to carrying out the bombings along with his brother; he apologized to the injured and the bereaved. The New York
Daily News reported that "the mass murderer's mea culpa capped a dramatic day during which 25 people who lost loved ones and limbs took turns verbally slamming Tsarnaev".
Imprisonment , the prison housing Tsarnaev The following morning, on June 25, 2015, Tsarnaev was transferred from
Federal Medical Center, Devens to the
United States Penitentiary, Florence High in
Colorado. As of July 17, 2015, Tsarnaev had been transferred to
United States Penitentiary Florence Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX Florence). A
Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) spokesperson stated that "unique security management requirements" caused the agency to place Tsarnaev in Colorado instead of
United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute,
Indiana, where male death-row inmates are normally held. According to
The Guardian, in June 2016,
Al-Qaeda leader
Ayman al-Zawahiri issued a threat to the United States, warning of the "gravest consequences" should Tsarnaev be harmed. In December 2024, when President
Joe Biden announced
commutations for the death sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, he excluded Tsarnaev, along with
Dylann Roof, who committed the 2015
Charleston church shooting, and
Robert Gregory Bowers, who committed the 2018
Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, because of their convictions for either terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder–related crimes. , Tsarnaev continues to be held on death row at
ADX Florence federal supermax prison in Colorado.
Appeals Tsarnaev appealed his sentence on the grounds that the trial should not have been held in Boston, that there were errors in jury selection and that the judge improperly excluded evidence that Tamerlan Tsarnaev and another man,
Ibragim Todashev, committed a prior
triple murder in Waltham on September 11, 2011, arguing that such evidence would suggest that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev acted under the influence of Tamerlan Tsarnaev and was possibly fearful of what would happen to him if he refused. The appeal was heard by a three-judge panel of the
First Circuit on December 12, 2019. U.S. Circuit Judge
O. Rogeriee Thompson, who wrote the opinion, clarified the ruling of the court. She stated, "Make no mistake: Dzhokhar will spend his remaining days locked up in prison, with the only matter remaining being whether he will die by execution." On March 22, 2021, the Supreme Court agreed to consider an appeal from the Department of Justice, and on October 13, 2021, the Department of Justice presented arguments in favor of reinstating the death penalty for Tsarnaev. On March 4, 2022, in a 6–3 decision penned by Justice
Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court held that the First Circuit had improperly vacated Tsarnaev's death sentence. The Court reversed the First Circuit's decision, reinstating the death penalty. The Court ruled that Tsarnaev had received a fair trial, rejecting arguments that "trial judge erred in barring certain questions to prospective jurors, and in blocking evidence of his brother Tamerlan's role in a prior triple murder". U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts
Rachael Rollins commented, "'Legal rulings don't erase trauma and pain. Our focus today, and always, is on the hundreds of families that were deeply impacted and traumatized by this horrific act of domestic terrorism'". Tsarnaev asked the First Circuit Court of Appeals to consider four constitutional claims that had not been considered by the Supreme Court. On January 10, 2023, the First Circuit heard the matter. Tsarnaev's attorneys argued that jurors in the case had lied about prior discussions of the case on
Twitter and
Facebook. The jurors, the attorneys say, claimed to have never discussed the case on social media, whereas the attorneys say the jurors actually did participate in discussions showing a strong bias against Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev's attorneys argued this lack of disclosure should have disqualified the jurors from serving. In March 2024, the First Circuit ruled that the trial judge had not adequately investigated the claims of juror bias, and sent the case back to the trial court with instructions for the trial judge to investigate the defense's claims and determine whether Tsarnaev's death sentence should stand. Tsarnaev subsequently requested that District Court Judge George O'Toole should be recused from deciding the juror-bias issue because comments Judge O'Toole made on a podcast allegedly showed bias against Tsarnaev, but in July 2025 a 3-judge panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that argument and ruled that Judge O'Toole should stay on the case. In August 2025, Tsarnaev requested that the full Court of Appeals reconsider that decision
en banc. The First Circuit Court of Appeals denied the request on December 18, 2025.
Investigative team The Department of Justice investigative and prosecution team received the
Attorney General's David Margolis Award for Exceptional Service from
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch on November 10, 2016. == Media coverage ==