Will he break his silence? Sentenced to death, what to expect from Boston bomber

Little chance that last minute appeal will change sentence

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombers, may break his long held silence for the first time before he is scheduled to be officially sentenced to death on June 24.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - This will be the first time the 21-year-old mass killer will be able to speak to the court, though it is still unclear whether he will decide to take that opportunity. It is especially uncertain because his defense attorney said that he feels remorse for the 2013 attack, but there is no direct evidence for this.

In fact the only signal anyone has received regarding Tsarnaev's attitude towards the attack is an image of him flipping off camera's in his cell back in July of 2013, which was released to the world and used as evidence in his trial.

The man in the image was "unconcerned, unrepentant and unchanged," said U.S. Attorney Nadine Pellegrini.

On Wednesday the sitting judge will be required to act on the sentence, which was recommended by the jury, and so Tsarnaev will have little to gain by speaking except to turn the moment into a political spectacle.

The bombing of the Boston Marathon two years ago by Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan - who was killed following the bombing - killed three people and wounded more than 260, including 18 people who were so maimed they lost their legs.

Of these victims, 20 are expected to speak during the sentencing, including family members of those who died or were injured.

A police officer with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was also killed by the brothers while they were on the run following the bombings.

Despite his impassiveness during the trial, there are some who maintain that Tsarnaev is remorseful and doesn't deserve to die.

Helen Prejean, a Roman Catholic nun and opponent of the death penalty claims she visited with Tsarnaev and that "he said emphatically, 'No one deserves to suffer like they did.'"

His lawyers also said that Tsarnaev was sorry for what he had done, but others say his demeanor during the trial says otherwise.

Robert Blecker, a New York Law School professor and advocate of the death penalty, believes that any apology would not help Tsarnaev in sentencing or appeal, but may help if he intends to get a commutation from President Obama.

"If he desperately wanted to save his life and he were willing to express it now and then show a consistent pattern of remorse and good behavior, he would significantly strengthen his case later on," he said.

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