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Marathon Bombing Suspect Charged In Hospital

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This photo released Friday, April 19, 2013 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows a suspect that officials identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, being sought by police in the Boston Marathon bombings Monday. (FBI)
This photo released Friday, April 19, 2013 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows a suspect that officials identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, being sought by police in the Boston Marathon bombings Monday. (FBI)

Surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against persons and property resulting in death.

The charge carries a possible death sentence.

Tsarnaev, 19, is in serious condition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He made his initial court appearance today from his hospital room.

The White House says Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will not be tried as an enemy combatant in a military tribunal. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tsarnaev will be prosecuted in the federal court system.

Tsarnaev is a naturalized U.S. citizen. Carney says that under U.S. law U.S. citizens cannot be tried in military commissions. Carney says that since Sept. 11, 2001, the federal court system has been used to convict and incarcerate hundreds of terrorists.

Tsarnaev and his older brother and suspected co-conspirator, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, were born in southern Russia.

Evidence is mounting that the older brother, who died in a shootout with the police on Thursday, had turned sharply toward radical Islam over the last five years, causing rifts within his own family.

As the investigations continue, the area continues mourning today, with a funeral for 29-year-old Krystle Campbell in the Boston suburb of Medford; a memorial service at Boston University for Chinese graduate student Lu Lingzi; and a statewide moment of silence at 2:50 p.m., the time the first bomb went off.

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this article.

Guest:

  • Bryan Bender, national security reporter for The Boston Globe.

This segment aired on April 22, 2013.

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