Boston Marathon bombing suspect heads to first public court hearing

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction in the bombings that killed three people and wounded more than 260, and could face the death penalty.

BOSTON // Survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing will watch as the young man who could face the death penalty for the attack appears in court for the first time since he was found bleeding and hiding in a boat in a suburb days after the April 15 explosion.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's arraignment was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Boston. He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction in the bombings that killed three people and wounded more than 260.

The courthouse is expected to be jammed for 19-year-old Tsarnaev's appearance. A spokeswoman for the US attorney's office said space is being reserved in the main courtroom for victims' families, but she wouldn't indicate how many planned to attend. Court officials have set aside an overflow courtroom to broadcast the hearing for the media.

Tsarnaev has yet to appear publicly since his April 19 arrest. His initial court appearance took place at a hospital, where he was recovering from injuries suffered in a shootout with police the day before in the Boston suburb of Watertown.

Authorities say he had escaped in a hijacked car after running over his brother and alleged co-conspirator, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died following the shootout with police. But he was found the next day after a lockdown in Watertown was lifted and a local homeowner noticed blood on the dry-docked boat.

Tsarnaev's arrest stunned those who knew him as a likeable high school athlete in Cambridge, where he lived with his older brother after his parents left for Russia.

His parents were in Makhachkala, in the southern Russian province of Dagestan, on Wednesday. His mother declined to comment.

Prosecutors say Tsarnaev, a Muslim, wrote about his motivations for the bombing on the inside walls and beams of the boat where he was hiding.

He wrote the US government was "killing our innocent civilians".

"I don't like killing innocent people," he said, but also wrote: "I can't stand to see such evil go unpunished. ... We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all."

The indictment also said that, sometime before the bombings, Tsarnaev downloaded internet material from Islamic extremists that advocated violence against the perceived enemies of Islam.

Three people – Martin Richard, 8, Krystle Marie Campbell, 29, and Lingzi Lu, 23 – were killed by the bombs, which were improvised from pressure cookers. Authorities say the Tsarnaevs also killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology officer Sean Collier days later while they were on the run.

Numerous bombing victims had legs amputated after the two explosions, which detonated along the final stretch of the race a couple of hours after the elite runners had finished.