'No Point In Trying To Hurt' Boston Bomber

A lawyer for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has asked jurors not to sentence him to death because there is "no point in trying to hurt him as he hurt others".

David Bruck urged them to give the 21-year-old life in prison, saying "there is no evening the scales".

"No punishment, no punishment could ever be equal to the terrible effects of these crimes on the innocent people who were killed and hurt or on their families," Mr Bruck said.

"There is no point in trying to hurt him as he hurt because it can't be done."

The defence team began delivering opening statements on Monday in the penalty phase of the federal trial.

Earlier this month, Tsarnaev was convicted on 30 federal charges connected to the 15 April 2013 bombings that killed three people and injured 264 others.

He was also found guilty of shooting dead an MIT police officer days later, as he and his older brother attempted to flee the city.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was pronounced dead at the scene of a gun battle with police after his younger brother inadvertently ran him over with a car.

In Monday's hearing, the defence continued its argument that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, then 19, was pressured by his radicalised brother into carrying out the attacks.

Mr Bruck described the younger Tsarnaev as a "good kid" who was led astray by his sibling.

Prosecutors have called for the death penalty, describing the ethnic Chechen "unrepentant" and "uncaring".

Last week, they presented a photo in court showing Tsarnaev making an obscene gesture to a jail cell camera within months of the attacks.

The court has set aside two weeks for the defence to call witnesses.

Some members of Tsarnaev's family have arrived in Boston but have been kept under guard at a hotel, according to local media. It is not known whether any of them will testify.

It also remains unclear whether Tsarnaev will take the stand on his own behalf.

He did not testify during the first portion of the trial, when the defence called just four witnesses in two days.