Attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appealed his conviction and death sentence on Monday, arguing that publicity made it impossible for him to get a fair trial in the city and that capital punishment is unconstitutional. 
 
 In court papers, defense lawyer William Fick cited a recent dissent by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in which he said that he believes the death penalty "now likely constitutes a legally prohibited 'cruel and unusual punishment.'" 
 
 However, the majority opinion in that very same case opened with the declaration that "capital punishment is constitutional." 
 
 Tsarnaev was sentenced to death in June for helping his older brother carry out the April 15, 2013, blasts that killed three people and injured and maimed more than 200 others. 
 
 The appeal claims that "continuous and unrelenting publicity" about the bombings, the defendant and his family, and wrenching survivor stories prevented him from getting an impartial hearing. It notes that Boston announced a new holiday marking the bombings while jurors were deliberating Tsarnaev's guilt. 
 
 As users of social media, the jurors would have found it impossible to avoid coverage, the appeal argues. 
 
 "Put simply, prejudicial media coverage, events, and environment saturated greater Boston, including the social networks of actual trial jurors, and made it an improper venue for the trial of this case," the court papers say. 
 
 The defense repeatedly asked for a change of venue before the trial began, but the requests were rejected by the judge. ||||| Bomber's guilt never in question, but life without parole will let him drift off into obscurity. 
 
 Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's defense attorneys pass anti-death penalty protesters outside the court in Boston on Wednesday. (Photo: Katherine Taylor, epa) 
 
 BOSTON — Despite great anticipation and intensive news media coverage, the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for his role in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing has, up to this point, had as much suspense as a Law & Order rerun. 
 
 The guilty verdict on all 30 counts rendered by the jury of seven women and five men inside a packed federal courthouse here came as no surprise. Not even the defendant showed any emotion as each count was read aloud. 
 
 From the very start of the proceedings five weeks ago, the defense has conceded defeat in the guilt phase of the bifurcated capital murder trial. In her opening statement to the jury, defense counsel Judy Clarke admitted that Tsarnaev did indeed join his now-deceased older brother, Tamerlan, in detonating two explosions near the finish line of the storied foot race, killing three spectators, including an 8-year-old boy, and injuring more than 260. 
 
 Despite the defense's concession, the prosecution proceeded to call 92 witnesses to the stand, presenting in excruciating detail the pain and devastation caused by the Tsarnaev brothers as part of their self-styled jihadist attack on America. The purpose was to set the stage for the real challenge that lies ahead in the penalty phase, when the jury will be tasked with choosing between the death penalty and a sentence of life without parole eligibility. 
 
 I am certainly not alone in believing that the federal government should have saved time and great expense by negotiating a guilty plea in exchange for a life sentence, just as it had in the case against Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski. Besides, persuading the jury to recommend death for Tsarnaev, which requires a unanimous vote, is hardly the slam dunk that characterized the uncontested guilt portion of the trial. 
 
 Even though the jury pool was "death qualified," purged of anyone who would absolutely not be willing to vote to execute the defendant, it is still a tall order to persuade all 12 residents of liberal Massachusetts that capital punishment is the better option. 
 
 Notwithstanding the extreme horror of the marathon bombings and the terror-filled days before the massive manhunt came to an end, it is hard to argue that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, qualifies as "the worst of the worst," the criterion often used in deciding who shall be executed. 
 
 Virtually all the evidence points to the fact that the defendant was subordinate to his 26-year-old brother. It was Tamerlan who became radicalized, who purchased the bomb-making supplies, and who threatened the carjacking victim at gunpoint. Tamerlan died in a confrontation with law enforcement officers three nights after the bombings. It is a stretch to suggest that the brothers were truly equal partners. Were it not for the close brotherly bond and Tamerlan's influence, Dzhokhar might still be just a struggling college student content to smoke weed with his buddies in his dorm room. 
 
 At the time of the bombing on April 15, 2013, the defendant was only 19, less than two years ​above the age threshold when he'd have been exempted from the death penalty. Even though legally of age, he lacked the maturity to think and act independently of the older brother whom he revered. Of course, none of this absolves the defendant or suggests that he is not culpable for his crimes, only that his responsibility is sufficiently diminished so as not to warrant the supreme penalty of death. 
 
 If the government is indeed successful in persuading the jury to recommend death, it will fail to bring the kind of closure that many of the victims and their survivors are anticipating. Just the opposite might occur. 
 
 A sentence of death will likely transform Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, an amateur terrorist, into a martyr for all those here and abroad who hate America. Better that he drift off into the obscurity of some dark and distant prison cell without the continued news media focus that an execution would bring. 
 
 Life without parole is an outcome we can all live with. 
 
 James Alan Fox is the Lipman Professor of Criminology, Law, and Public Policy at Northeastern University and co-author of Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder. He also is a member of the USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. 
 
 In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns like this, go to the Opinion front page. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1ydHrgo ||||| BOSTON (AP) — A jury has reached a verdict in the federal death penalty trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (joh-HAHR' tsahr-NEYE'-ehv). 
 
 Members of the legal defense team for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, from the left, Miriam Conrad, David Bruck, William Fick and Judy Clarke, arrive at federal court, Tuesday, April... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this courtroom sketch, defense attorney Judy Clarke is depicted addressing the jury as defendant Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, right, sits during closing arguments in Tsarnaev's federal death penalty trial Monday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 The verdict is expected to be announced shortly in U.S. District Court. Lawyers and survivors of the bombing are gathering in court. 
 
 The verdict was reached Wednesday afternoon after a little over 12 hours of deliberations over two days. 
 
 Tsarnaev's lawyers admitted he participated in the bombings, but said his now-dead older brother was the driving force behind the 2013 deadly attack. 
 
 The jury was asked to decide 30 charges against Tsarnaev, including using a weapon of mass destruction. 
 
 If the jury convicts Tsarnaev, it will move on to a second phase of the trial to decide whether he should receive the death penalty or spend the rest of his life in prison. 
 
 Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured when twin pressure-cooker bombs exploded near the marathon finish line on April 15, 2013.
– Not a huge surprise: Lawyers for Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev today appealed his death-penalty conviction, arguing that "continuous and unrelenting publicity" biased jurors and made a fair trial in Boston impossible, NBC News reports. "Put simply, prejudicial media coverage, events, and environment saturated greater Boston, including the social networks of actual trial jurors, and made it an improper venue for the trial of this case," say the papers. The lawyers want another trial at a new location, the AP reports. Earlier this year, the Guardian reminded us that Tsarnaev's appeals will likely delay his punishment for "at least a decade." The April 15, 2013, bomb strike in Boston left three dead and more than 200 maimed or injured.