Accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev "wanted to punish America" when he killed three people and injured 264 with a pair of homemade bombs at the 2013 race, a federal prosecutor said on Monday.
In closing arguments before a jury decides whether Tsarnaev, 21, is guilty of the April 15, 2013, bombing and of fatally shooting a police officer three days later, Assistant U.S. Attorney Aloke Chakravarty described the attack as deliberate and extremist.
"The defendant thought that his values were more important than the people around him. He wanted to awake the mujahedeen, the holy warriors," Chakravarty said. "He wanted to terrorize this country. He wanted to punish America for what it was doing to his people."