Fewer than one in five Massachusetts residents want Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to be executed  believing  a quick death would be 'too easy an escape'. Tsarnaev, who killed three people and injured 260 others in the April, 2013 bombings, is due back in court today where his defence team will begin to make its case. Last week prosecutors  described the 21-year-old as 'America's worst nightmare' insisting he deserves to die for carrying out one of the bloodiest attacks on US soil since 9/11. Fewer than one in five Massachusetts residents believe Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, seen here gesturing at his jail cell camera while awaiting trial, should be handed a death penalty . However a poll for the Boston Globe newspaper found less than 20 per cent of Massachusetts residents questioned believed he should be put to death with 63 per cent in favour of a life sentence. And in the city of Boston itself the figure falls to just 15 per cent of residents in favour of the death penalty and 66 per cent arguing he should be caged for life. Frank Perullo, president of Sage Systems LLC, which conducted the poll on behalf of the Boston Globe said: 'It seems that voters have concluded that Tsarnaev does not deserve a quick death, but rather should spend the remainder of his days in a windowless cell contemplating the heinous acts that put him there. 'To voters, it would seem death is too easy an escape.' If he does escape the death penalty, Tsarnaev is likely to spend the rest of his days in one of America's Supermax prisons where inmates are kept mainly in solitary confinement and have minimal contact with staff or fellow prisoners. Last week protesters demonstrated against the death penalty outside the courthouse holding up banners, one of which read: 'Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?' Jurors were selected in part for their openness to imposing the death penalty, controversial in a state that has executed no one since 1947 and where Catholic bishops oppose capital punishment. Evidence photos from the Boston Bombing trial revealed the aftermath of the blasts. Three people were killed and  260 others injured in the attacks on April 15, 2013 . An earlier poll carried out by CNN found that just over half of Americans (53 per cent), said Tsarnaev should get the death penalty. Forty-five per cent said he should spend the rest of his life behind bars. If just one juror accepts there were mitigating circumstances to Tsarnaev's actions, then he will be sentenced to life in prison. Tsarnaev has already been convicted of 30 federal charges in the twin bombings  near the marathon's finish line on April 15, 2013. Seventeen of those charges carry the possibility of the death penalty. His defense team is set to begin presenting witnesses today in the penalty phase of his trial - the stage that will determine whether he is executed or spends the rest of his life behind bars. His lawyers' primary task will be to humanize Tsarnaev and undermine prosecutors' depiction of him as a ruthless and heartless terrorist who placed a bomb just feet from a group of children and targeted the marathon for maximum bloodshed. Victim: Last week the court heard how Martin Richard, 8, suffered a slow and painful death . In the trial's first phase, the defense tried to show that at the time of the attacks, Tsarnaev was a 19-year-old college student flunking out of school and heavily influenced by his radicalized older brother, Tamerlan, 26. The defense likely is to continue emphasizing that theme, but may also focus on Tsarnaev's seeming aimlessness to show that he did not appear to be motivated by political concerns and that his brother was the driving force behind the attack, aimed at punishing the U.S. for its wars in Muslim countries. The witness list has not been made public, but legal experts expect the defense to call family members and friends who will describe Tsarnaev as a well-behaved child who appeared to adjust well to his life in the U.S. after moving here with his parents and siblings from Russia about a decade before the bombings. Among those who have come out against the death penalty are Bill and Denise Richard, whose eight-year-old son Martin was killed and seven-year-old daughter, Jane, lost a leg in the blasts. Writing in the Globe they said: 'We understand all too well the heinousness and brutality of the crimes committed. We were there. We lived it. 'The defendant murdered our 8-year-old son, maimed our 7-year-old daughter, and stole part of our soul. 'We know that the government has its reasons for seeking the death penalty, but the continued pursuit of that punishment could bring years of appeals and prolong reliving the most painful day of our lives.' Last week the trial heard from a trauma surgeon who described how the young Martin Richard suffered terribly before he bled to death on the street. Dr David King, a veteran military combat surgeon, said the little boy was gravely injured in the blasts and suffered 'visceral pain'. King said Martin Richard's liver, spleen and intestines were twisted and stretched by the blast. The surgeon, who works at Massachusetts General Hospital, said Richard's death would have been intensely painful due to the severe injuries to his internal organs. 'He did not die instantaneously,' the surgeon said, noting that internal injuries activate a set of pain receptors that call 'a much more primal, very disturbing kind of pain'. Demonstrators against the death penalty stand outside the Moakley Federal Court during first day of the penalty phase hearing on Tuesday, last week . Jurors were played an audio recording of the reaction of the crowd outside the Forum restaurant between the time of the first and second blasts and heard from some of those who suffered appalling injuries. Heather Abbott, who was one of 17 people to lose a leg, said: 'I saw smoke and started hearing people scream and immediately what came to mind was footage I had seen on 9/11 when the (New York World Trade Center) buildings collapsed... Before I could even react, the second explosion occurred,' Abbott testified. 'I was catapulted through the front doors of the restaurant, which were open, and I landed on the ground in a puddle of chaos and glass and blood.' Abbott was one of 18 people who lost legs to the twin pressure-cooker bombs placed at the scene by Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, who died four days later after the pair shot dead a police officer. The jury saw pictures of all 18 amputees, many of whom testified earlier in the trial, as prosecutors presented the third and final day of their sentencing-phase case in U.S. District Court in Boston. On Tuesday, the court was shown a picture of Tsarnaev flipping off a surveillance camera in his cell three months after his arrest, revealing utter disdain and lack of remorse for the death and destruction he had wreaked .
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, back in court today for start of defence case .
Prosecutors last week urged jurors to push for the death penalty .
But poll finds majority of Massachusetts residents want life imprisonment .
Defence expected to suggest Tsarnaev was led astray by his older brother .