Some would immediately say that this is convenient, seeing how his brother is dead.
A federal investigator CNN that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, told authorities that Tamerlan Tsarneav, 26, organized the plot beacuse he wanted to defend Islam from attack.
Two officials have also said that the brothers appear to have acted alone and were motivated by a radical brand of Islam.
The officials said preliminary evidence from Tsarnaev’s interrogation suggested the brothers were motivated by religious extremism but were apparently not involved with Islamic terrorist organizations.
The surviving brother communicated with his interrogators in writing, precluding the type of back-and-forth exchanges often crucial to establishing key facts, said the officials, who have not been named.
They cautioned that they were still trying to verify what they were told by Tsarnaev and were looking at such things as his telephone and online communications and his associations with others. Tamerlan died on the night that Dzhokhar shut down metro Boston until he was captured in suburban Watertown, Mass.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted on the federal terrorism charges, the Department of Justice said.
He was charged as he lay under armed guard in his hospital bed with using a “weapon of mass destruction” in the attacks that killed three people and injured more than 200.
During the short bedside hearing he uttered what is believed to be his first word since his arrest, replying “no” when asked if he could afford a lawyer.
The affidavit contained chilling new details about how he calmly waited for the first bomb to explode before walking away from the backpack that allegedly contained the second explosive device – getting out of harm’s way with just seconds to spare. One photo shows Dzhokhar calmly turning a corner away from the second bomb as other around him fled frantically for their lives.
The White House earlier rejected calls by leading Republicans for Tsarnaev to be charged as an enemy combatant under the military tribunal system that is used to prosecute foreign terror militants.
Jay Carney, the spokesman for President Barack Obama, said that under US law, an American citizen cannot be tried by military commissions. Tsarnaev, an ethnic Chechen, moved to American with his family in 2002 and became a citizen on Sept 11 last year.
A week after the attacks at the Boston marathon, a federal judge established jurisdiction for a temporary court for Tsarnaev in the hospital room where he is being treated for serious gunshot injuries he sustained before his capture on Friday night. According to the complaint, he suffered injuries to his “head, neck, leg and hand”.
The complaint filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations charged Tsarnaev with two preliminary counts: use of a weapon of mass destruction – the legal term deployed for the home-made pressure cooker bomb – and malicious destruction of property resulting in death. Further charges are expected to be brought as the investigation proceeds.
In the accompanying affidavit, FBI special agent Daniel Genck laid out how Tsarnaev and brother Tamerlan, 26, who died after a shoot-out with police, were identified from surveillance video and photographs taken near the finish line of the Boston marathon.
The chronology reveals the chilling composure demonstrated by the brothers as they allegedly conducted the final stages of their murderous mission.
At 2.45pm, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is seen arriving at the site of the second bomb and placing his backpack at his feet. As the crowds watched the race, Tsarnaev glanced at his mobile phone and at one stage apparently took a picture with it.
Approximately 30 seconds before the first blast, he lifts the phone to his appear for a conversation that lasted 18 seconds. Just after the call, those around him all turn their heads in shock and bewilderment towards the location when the first bomb explodes at 2.49pm.
Tsarnaev “virtually alone… appears calm”, the affidavit starts. Only then does he rapidly walk away without his bag. Just 10 seconds later, the second blast ripped through the spectators.
