Boston Marathon juror speaks of death penalty

BOSTON (AP) — A juror in the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev says he probably would not have voted for the death penalty had he known that the families of some victims preferred a life sentence.

Kevin Fagan spoke to WBUR-FM on Monday, the same day a federal judge rejected a motion by The Boston Globe to publicly release the names of all jurors. Fagan is believed to be the first juror to speak publicly using his name.

He did not discuss deliberations but said he likely would have changed his vote in the penalty phase had he been aware of the opposition to the death penalty by the parents of 8-year-old Martin Richard, who was killed by one of two bombs detonated by Tsarnaev and his brother. The bombs killed three people and injured more than 260.

“If I had known that, I probably — I probably would change my vote. But then again, if I knew that, I wouldn’t be on the jury either,” he said. The jurors were ordered by the judge to avoid media coverage of the trial.

Fagan said he believed the defense claim that Tsarnaev was influenced by his older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed  several days after the bombings. But he came to the decision that Tsarnaev should receive the death penalty.