WASHINGTON — The United States is to seek the death penalty for accused Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev if he is convicted of involvement in the deadly attack, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday. “The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision,” Holder said in a statement on the prosecution of the 20-year-old, a US citizen from a Chechen Muslim family. Three people were killed and around 260 wounded on April 15 last year when two bombs made of explosives-packed pressure cookers exploded near the finish line of the Boston marathon. Tsarnaev, then 19, and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev were cornered by police after a four-day manhunt. Tamerlan died after an exchange of fire with police and Dzhokhar was wounded. The shaggy-haired onetime student has pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges related to the bombings, including 17 serious charges that can carry sentences of death or of life in prison. – AP
