(Photo: Michael Dwyer, AP)
BOSTON — Thousands of runners and fans are scheduled to line up Monday for the Boston Marathon, just as they've done here since 1897. But this year is markedly different because one thing is coloring all else: the ongoing federal trial of Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Tsarnaev was convicted on all 30 counts against him in the 2013 Marathon bombings, but he has not yet been sentenced. On Tuesday, the region's eyes turn back to federal court, where the penalty phase begins. The same jury that convicted him on April 8 will decide whether he gets the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.