The trial for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was very closely watched in the Bay Area Wednesday. Not only because several locals ran in that race, but also because one was among the seriously injured by the blast.
Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty on all counts Wednesday, setting the stage for a possible death sentence for his role in the attacks that killed three people, including an 8-year-old boy, and brought the city to a standstill nearly two years ago.
In the town of Martinez, residents followed the trial with particular interest.
Aaron Hern, 11, was critically injured in the explosion. He was standing just six feet from one of the blasts.
Hern’s father coaches football at Alhambra High. The town rallied behind the boy with fundraisers to help pay medical bills.
Most said they would sentence Tzarnaev to death
“Knowing what I know, I would probably vote for the ultimately penalty,” said Rosemary Bolduc.
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"I think he should get exactly what he gave: the death penalty,” said Denyse Spencer.
“This is a terrorist bombing, of course if you were going to have a death penalty for something this would be it,” said Ed Sias.
Megan Faulkner of Brentwood had just finished the marathon and was posing for pictures near the finish line when the bombs went off.
“It sounded like something huge had ploughed into a building and it shook the ground,” she said.
The elementary school teacher admits she is still shaken by the experience.
Faulkner said she feels for the jury in having to decide between life and death for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
The penalty phase of the trial could take several weeks — Tsarnaev's lawyers say they expected a guilty verdict, and are focused on saving their client’s life.
They will argue that the 21 year old was following his brother’s lead and shouldn’t be given the death penalty. But Faulkner is clear on how she would decide.
“Death penalty — yeah I think that’s what I would do, I don’t want him to ever hurt anyone again so that would be the death penalty,” she said.
Faulkner went back to Boston to run in the marathon last year. She said she wanted to do it as a show of support for the people of Boston and to demonstrate that a terrorist attack won’t stop Americans from following their passion.
Noreen O'Donnell contributed to this report.
