okay. paul we re looking at i believe these are live pictures. correct me if i m wrong. outside the federal courthouse here you can see clearly a police presence anticipating whatever this verdict will be. members of the media, even probably some passers by. so many people invested in what will happen the fate of this younger dzhokhar tsarnaev. a couple notes just passed on to me. first, i ve been told the public is now being allowed inside this courthouse. microphones are being tested. apparently the defense attorneys are already inside. the prosecution is seen walking in. so just a little bit of color as we re anticipating this verdict being read and many many eyes and ears waiting to hear the fate of dzhokhar tsarnaev. will this jury decide to put him to death or will he be locked away in presumably this super max prison in florence colorado barely even seeing daylight for the rest of his life? paul when the verdict is being
all right. here we go. breaking news. this is huge coming out of boston. just the last couple of days in fact this is the third day the jury in this federal case there in boston involving the younger tsarnaev brother, the convicted terrorist, dzhokhar tsarnaev jury has been deliberating whether or not he should be sentenced to death after placing those pressure cookers and injuring so many people just a couple years ago at that boston marathon. we have now learned that the jury has, in fact reached a verdict. we do not know what the verdict is but we know this jury has, in fact reached a verdict here in the sentencing phase of this trial. i ve got attorney paul callen stand being i.ing by. paul let me bring you in. it was half a day of deliberations wednesday.
death penalty still agree to serve on a jury like that, saying that although i m really opposed to the death penalty, if the law clearly requires it i can apply the law. but when you get into this debate it becomes very very personal. if you re conscientiously opposed to the death penalty, maybe you hold out regardless of how bad the facts are. on the other hand many people may think life in prison is worse than death, given the fact he ll be probably at the colorado super max in solitary confinement for the rest of his life. you can imagine that all of these debates are going on as to whether death is the greater punishment or life in this kind of facility and whether the death penalty is ever appropriate. i know in the state of massachusetts, capital punishment is illegal, but this is obviously at the federal level. i m wonder just in bigger broader federal cases, paul can you give me examples. i m thinking of big cases that we ve covered.
people are dead and more than 200 others were injured. there have been no charges filed against bostian, and he has agreed to talk to ntsb investigators. one question that s being thrown out there, could amnesia potentially be used as a defense in court? joining me to discuss is cnn legal analyst and senior trial counselor paul callen. it s not like he s saying amnesia. we ve heard from doctors saying he could regain some of his memory. when would amnesia even been applicable? it really would never be applicable in a criminal case because, remember amnesia is just an inability to remember what happened. the real issue is what did happen. was he using illegal substances? was he aware of a health condition that would have caused him to be a danger in operating the train? i m not saying he did these things but those could be possibly criminal if they should develop. the mere fact he cannot remember it would not make him innocent
minutes. one of the prosecutors, he s walking by me right now. so a lot of nervous energy right now as we await the verdict, brooke. let s stay in close contact with you as we await that verdict. i ve got deb with me. i have paul callen and jean casarez, who s following this as well. jean i m wondering who else deb just mentioned some people in that courtroom who are supporters of tsarnaev. are there family members, survivors, victims? can you help paint the scene there in that federal courthouse for me? yes. i mean there were so many victims that survived. so to have them in the courtroom, i think some of them cannot be there, but many are. as far as the defendant, he had aunts, cousins come over from russia to testify for him, but as of yesterday, there was no one there supporting him. he was all alone. but this is really the pinnacle of this trial. because the guilt portion was