Appeals Court Tosses Boston Marathon Bomber’s Death Sentence, Orders New Penalty Trial

In this courtroom sketch, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, right, and defense attorney Judy Clarke are depicted watching evidence displayed on a monitor during his federal death penalty trial in Boston on March 9, 2015. Jane Flavell Collins via AP

A federal appeals court on Friday vacated the death sentence of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and ordered a new penalty-phase trial.

Dzhokhar and his now-deceased 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, set off two homemade pressure-cooker bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 2013. The bombing killed three people and injured more than 260 others—becoming one of the highest-profile attacks in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001.