Boston bombings: Dzhokhar Tsarneav says brother was driving force behind attack Dzhokhar Tsarnaev could face 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. 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. Boston Charge (PDF) Boston Charge (Text) 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.