Feds Will Seek Death Penalty Against Boston Bombing Suspect

The Justice Department announced Thursday it will seek the death penalty against Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev. 

Twenty-year-old Tsarnaev faces 30 federal charges relating to the planning and execution of the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured 260 others in April of last year. (Via MSNBC) 

WHDH reports the death penalty is rarely sought in the Boston, Mass., area, so the defense will likely try to keep the case within the district. 

The Boston Globe points out if Tsarnaev is found guilty, prosecutors will still need to plead their cases for the death penalty in a separate trial. 

"It will help the prosecutors in their leverage against the defense to try and bring about ... a plea bargain and try and persuade the accused to plead guilty so that it doesn't need to go to a full trial." (Via Sky News) 

Dzhokar Tsarneav and his brother, Tamerlan, are accused of constructing multiple pressure cooker bombs and setting them off at last year's Boston Marathon. (Via ABC) 

Dzhokar is also being charged in the shooting death of an MIT police officer. That officer's death sparked a shootout between police and the Tsarnaev brothers. Tamerlan died during that shootout. (Via NBC) 

Dzhokar was found later that day, after a massive manhunt, hiding in a boat in the back of a Watertown home. (Via CBS) 

No date has been set for the trial.