May have been more impressive had you said the same thing two, three, four five six months after the Boston Marathon bombing and a chance to sit in the jail cell and reflect on what happened to your life. But to get it two years plus after this and then to not explain i think a lot of people are going to be upset he made no attempt to aexplain his actions. If you believe the Defense Strategy throughout the trial, was that the big brother hatched the plan and dragged the reluctant starDzhokhar Tsarvaev into this conspiracy and frustrated that he did not try to explain why he did what he did, even if it was on religious grounds at least make an attempt to explain to people why you did the unthinkable, place a bomb in a book bag behind a group of people including children one of whom martin richard, the 8yearold who died. Extraordinary awful stories of victims about how tough their lives have been past two years and one strikes me the most is a gentleman who was standing behind martin richard, the 8yearold saying hes got marital probables because his wife was right next to him and he went to pick up the child jane richard, the sister of martin richard, after the bomb exploded in the chaos forgetting that his wife was there and in his words left to fend for herself and i thought that was so poignant that he spoke in front of this condemned killer this is what you caused in my life that i now have marital troubles because of you. Ron, talk a little bit more about the victims and the family members who spoke today. What did they seem to want to convey . I think for a lot of them and theres been a mix because a lot of victims were like were never going to get closure. They showed up for trial and some of them came almost every day but they didnt want to talk to the media and just wanted to be a part of the proceeding but didnt want to speak out. Others very much wanted to speak out. Rebecca gregory, one of the 17 people who lost limbs. She ran the last three miles this year and she was the last victim to get up today and was very sharp in her words and her condemnation of Dzhokhar Tsarvaev and she brought back to the courtroom that picture that we all remember that was introduced two thirds of the way through the proceedings of the trial where there was a still picture of Dzhokhar Tsarvaev in a holding cell waiting for a proceeding here at the courthouse and he fusses with the hair and extends the middle finger to the camera. She said when you do that its funny, we do that every time we put on these prosthetic limbs and we are boston strong, american strong. You picked the wrong people to pick on. Back to you. What an emotional room that must have been. Stick with us. Ari, a question that i have heard a number of people asking today and that is so now hes been sentenced to the Death Penalty but whys it take so long, that f thats what they decided with why not this weekend and the cost of it if he had life in prison that could be less expensive than waiting it out for years. Well, that goes to Something Else we learned today. The defense counsel saying really for the first time that they sought to have a life sentence with remorse, with some of the remorse hes expressed and they wouldnt take it. The government rejecting that given that they wanted to pursue the Death Penalty for the serious terrorist charge and there is an automatic mandatory appeal in these kind of matters so it is a long process. That is in addition to the Death Penalty in the United States and the debates of the lethal injection process itself and it goes to the federal governments interest in treating this as the highest possible offense regardless of how long it takes. Toure, weigh in as well. Yeah. Ari, im not the chief legal krobt like you but, of course we know that this country put to death people who are innocent so i would went to rush to put them to death right after the first Court Judgment but, ron, i want to go back to you and, you know i really dont care what this killer had to say and has you sort of remarked what he said was relative unremarkable. What he spoke is remarkable and what he said left more questions and answers and the judge said about the heroism and bravery we saw of the people of boston after this monster created this situation and, you know the judge and the court talked about the bravery of the Boston Police and the watertown police. He spoke about you want a real life example of looking far needle in a haystack that Police Looking far backpack and a landfill and talking about the victims who were themselves wounded being searched about others taking care of others who were wounded. We saw the heart and soul of boston throughout this situation. And we saw that boston is indeed very strong. Right. And judge otoole, his remarks there basically in essence saying that you saw the best and worst of humanity. That day. Two years ago here in this city where the two brothers came and wanted to kill and maim as many people as possible and then instantly you saw the best of humanity, people helping one another. Didnt know one another, doing extraordinary things to save lives and limbs and one of the people to testify today was the transit cop who was involved that shootout. A couple days after the bombing. Who was severely wounded and shot himself in that shootout just a few seconds from losing his life and would have left behind a 6monthold and he says one of the hardest things to do was to watch sean collier the m 2i officer ambushed by Dzhokhar Tsarvaev and his brother and killed on the campus of mit and said it was hard to watch that funeral from the hospital bed and said that the country and people here welcomed you and your family to the United States and the open that you would turn on us and do what you did to us was really an act of treason. He felt it should have been regarded as such as the highest act against this country that you can commit which is an act of treason against the country. An enso that kind of emotion pouring out of that courtroom today is going to be interesting to see how the victims respond to seeing him and hearing him. This is the first time really hearing his voice and were human beings all of us. You can form an opinion about a person even the worst of people by listening to them and hearing words from them and maybe it changes how you feel about them. El be very interested to see what some of the victim vs to say. Going back to what you guys were talking about and ari mentioning why the government did not accept a plea here a lot of people here in massachusetts and i spoke to them coming to the camera positions in the trial, thought it was a royal waste of United States treasury to put the man on trial for something we all know that he did. There was Video Evidence of it. And now that we have lernled that he in fact tried to get a plea deal with the government the government said no to that, i think people are going to be frustrated to hear that for two months the court was tied up with this court. A lot of money spent on the prosecution here. The government did get what it wanted which was a death sentence. Great point, ron. Goes to that debate. Stay with the special coverage. There were no cameras allowed in the courtroom but nbc news producer tom winter was there today and in the courtroom since the beginning of this notable trial an joins us on the phone. What was it like in the courtroom today when people heard from tsarnaev . Well i think and ill kind of probably maybe cut myself shortment the victims on the way to the podium and see that soon and some of the family members to speak about todays proceedings. But just quickly ill say i think there had been some question. We have heard the folks talk about how their lives impacted the injuries they faced, everything they have gone through. Throughout the past several months. And today the question of what was in tsarnaevs head through all this was answered it was tense. It was quiet. Everyone the jurors that came back, the victims, everybody was focused and wanted to hear would he show any apology at all, showing any sort of remorse and his statement is what it is. I think soon enough well find out if its something theyll willing to accept if it helps at all, its hard to imagine given the injuries they face but it was certainly an unusual and certainly a tense moment in court. Tom, talk to us about what the judge, the message the judge wanted to send to tsarnaev as we await this News Conference. I know some of what he said is no one will remember the teachers were fond of you. What will be remembered is you murdered and maimed innocent people. Well, judge otoole is very direct, very measured on the stand. And he was clearly affected at points by testimony in this case and throughout the trial. And i think today was an opportunity for him to reflect on that and to provide some summary tom, im sorry. Well go live to this News Conference now. But the victims cant be with us today and theyd be here to speak for themselves. I just wanted to vent a little bit about the first time we heard his voice today. Nobody really realized that we didnt know what he sounded like after two years. And after we heard it we wished we hadnt because the things he had to say were sort of shocking. He talked at first about allah an enthis being the month of forgiveness. And implying that we should all forgive him. And the last thing we wanted to hear was about allah and why he did this in the first place and changed all our lives forever. And then he went on to give a sort of oscartype speech thanking the judge and thanking the jury and thanking his legal team and those who couldnt be here and his family for testifying and making and i quote making my life easy for the past two years. Well our lives have been anything but easy and our lives will never be the same again. I live a block from the finish line and my neighborhood is changed forever. He threw in an apology to the survivors that seemed insincere and just thrown in because he was supposed to and then ended again with allah talking about leniency. Implying that we should now be lenient to him. Because allah says so. And i just was unaware that he would get up and say whatever he wanted and thats the law. And i regret having ever wanted to hear him speak because what he said showed no remorse. No regret. And no empathy for what hes done to our lives. Can you spell your name . Lynn julian. Lynn julian. Where were you standing when the bombs went off . I live a block from the finish line so i was at the first explosion. And i have traumatic brain injury. Permanent hearing loss in both ears. And a back injury and the worst of all is post traumatic stress. Do you think he should get the Death Penalty or life . I dont think that either of those things are going to change anything for any of us. Its never going to bring back our old lives. I lived in perhaps a false bubble of security that i would go to all the boston events just like so many people and never feel unsafe never worry. Now we feel like were the police. We are the judge and jury of everyone around us grading their safety level and how much threat they might cause us at any given time just riding the t and im never going did look at boston or the world again the same and none of us are because they took so much more than innocent peoples lives. They took our sense of security. They took our sense of safety. We can never leave our homes again and just take a walk without wondering and judging everybody else that walks by us. Why why do you think he spoke today . So i would like to speak. My name is scott weissberg. Im one of the survivors, as well. And im from birmingham alabama. Im a family physician and i specifically came up today to tell my story. I as a family physician have hidden an invisible injuries which most of the media are not aware of. Those injuries for me are bilateral hearing loss for which i wear hearing aids and since august of 2013. I also have a mild traumatic brain injury. And in addition ptsd as well. And part of today for me was to explain what its been like to live with for the last two years these injuries to all of you i look completely normal. But inside i have significant injuries that i have been living with and going through. And as a physician, and having to go through the struggles of getting diagnosed and having to convince medical professionals what its like to have injuries and to seek the proper care part of my treatment has been to make the public aware and also to be an advocate for other survivors so one of my goals and missions ever since this since ive been diagnosed which took 16 months to get my diagnosis is to be an advocate for other survivors and for other future events where if somebody has a hearing loss or brain injury where they do go to be treated effectively right from the beginning. And that is one of my main purposes for being here today. And this courtroom and coming from alabama. Did you want tsarnaevs speech what did you think of the statement . So i was surprised that he spoke. I think most of the survivors were. That he spoke today. He said that he was remorseful. I find that hard to believe since ive come to a lot of the trial. And never really saw that at all from him. It really does not change anything for me because what he took from me im never going to be able to regain. Nor what he took from my family. Nor from any of us. As well. Why do you think he spoke . I think he spoke because people were sort of expecting that from him. Since the everybody during the trial was commenting on him not making any comments and his lack of remorse and not no facial expression so this was that one last moment for him to kind of just put things aside. Did he do it for the right reasons . I dont think it was genuine but that he will say otherwise. And thats not going to change my impression of him or what he did to us. Basically, as was said by you know, people this morning is what this tragedy has done is its made us stronger as a Survivor Community and more importantly, it has made us more resilient and we are still alive. Theres four people that arent but the rest of us are and we as a community are stronger and we are going to continue to heal through this and the main thing for me and speaking was that we will not be forgotten. You talked in the court about how your life is completely ruined and in a split second the aftermath of that is your life as you knew it what did you it mean to you to be able to stand up in court and say that and he heard you. What did that mean to you . To me being able to finally express what ive been holding in for two years was very powerful. It gave me the opportunity to let not only the media, the defense, the judge, even the jurors have an opportunity to hear from a survivor that basically has these hidden and invincible injuries. When you see me on the street i look completely normal. You know . If i pull out my hearing aids you will see that i wear hearing aids. You know in the brain injury you cant see. Its not something thats visible. The ptsd you are not going to see that. So for me it was the idea of actually being able to physically express all of those feelings that ive been dealing with for two years and verbally being able to express it to the public. Marathon, you said youre a marathon runner. Have you run marathons since boston . I have. I came back in 2014. Ran the 2014 marathon with the 415 group which was the group of survivors and i did it again this past year and after the 2014 i started running again marathons like i did before. Is there anything that you guys wanted to do [ inaudible ] sincere apology would have been nice. A simple believable apology would have been great. And there was nothing simple about what he said and there was nothing sincere. One thing that we have done you were talking about being proactive and moving forward, scott and i are both on the board of the Massachusetts Resiliency Center so we are taking positive steps to unite the community and what we call our marathon family to continue to grow and continue to heal long after this trial is over. The defense said that they had tried to come to a resolution on this issue back in october and that this thing proceeded and that is to say would have pleaded guilty at that time. Do you think that the that that should have been accepted . That government offer . I mean that offer from the defense team to the government and such that prevented a trial and perhaps some of the some of the experience of the trial . You know what . Today was actually the first day that i learned of that. I was not aware of that before today. And i know that the government had a good reason for going to trial. So i cant fully answer your question. I would like to make my own statement. My name is henry borgard. Im from chicago, illinois specifically downers grove. And i was out here living out here attending Suffolk University at the time of the marathon and i wasnt trying to be there. I wasnt trying to specktatespectate. I didnt have any friends running. I was walking home from work and i was a victim of circumstance. That being said, ive made a host of friends within our Survivor Community. Theyre going to be lifelong friends. Theyre people that i continually rely on and lean on. And i really want to thank a couple of people or groups i should say. First is my family specifically my mother who as you heard in my victim pact Statement Today received a phone call from me just three minutes after the explosions went off and i scared her half to death. So im sorry, mom. And, thank you for your support. And i also want to thank war dogs of chicago which their organization gifted me my service dog. Her name is friday. Shes a ptsd service dog. And they generously donated her to me after hearing about my story. I want to thank the people that have worked tirelessly to get this whole trial to a resolution to capture Dzhokhar Tsarvaev during the manhunt and i also want to give a sincere thank you to the prosecution staff because they have been absolutely phenomenal. The Attorney Generals Office has been wonderful to all of the survivors. In regards to Dzhokhar Tsarvaevs statement, my personal opinion is a little bit different