(Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev/Wikipedia Commons)

The indictment also alleged that Tsarnaev left a confession of his crimes in the boat where he was captured in Watertown. 

The Boston Globe reported that Tsarnaev wrote in the note that, “I don’t like killing innocent people…it is forbidden in Islam.” But justified his actions by saying that he acted in response to U.S. military assaults on Muslim countries.

“The U.S. Government is killing our innocent civilians. .... I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished. ... We Muslims are one body, you hurt one, you hurt us all,” The Boston Globe reported that Tsarnaev allegedly wrote. “Stop killing our innocent people and we will stop.”

Seventeen of the charges against Tsarnaev have the possibility of the death penalty, while the others are punishable my life in prison. 

From The Boston Globe:

The twin blasts killed three people and injured more than 260 near the Marathon finish line on April 15. Authorities have said Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted the explosives. They have also said the Tsarnaevs killed MIT police officer Sean Collier.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed after a shootout with police on April 19 in Watertown. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was arrested after he was found hiding in the boat later that day.

The indictment alleges that sometime before the bombings, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, downloaded different pieces of extremist Islamic propaganda from the Internet, including one that directed Muslims not to give their allegiances to governments that invade Muslim lands and another by Anwar al-Awlaki. Al-Awlaki is the American citizen who became a senior operative in Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen and was killed in a 2011 drone strike.

At a press conference at US District Court in Boston this afternoon, US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz summarized the charges against Tsarnaev, and then added that she has met with relatives of those slain and those who were wounded during the terror attack.

“Their strength is extraordinary, and we will do everything that we can to pursue justice not only on their behalf, but on behalf of all us,’’ she said.

Ortiz said it would be up to US Attorney General Eric Holder to decide whether to seek the death penalty. “There are a number of different levels of review,” she said, adding her office would seek input from victims’ families before making a recommendation to the attorney general about the death penalty. “It is a confidential process. Once he makes a decision, we’ll announce it.”

Read the full story here.

Email Danielle Tarasiuk here.