No one in Boston has their opinion more sought out than Mayor Martin J. Walsh. But when it comes to execution or life in prison for convicted marathon bombing killer Dzokhar Tsarnaev, put the mayor down as no comment - yet.
Speaking Thursday, one day after a jury convicted Tsarnaev on 30 of 30 counts, 17 of them carrying a potential death sentence, Walsh said, "He certainly got what he deserved yesterday and I think the jury will come back and give him what he deserves in the final day."
But Walsh's view of what the convicted killer deserves?
"It's not my place," Walsh said. "There's a jury and there's a process, and I'm going to let the process take its place and as the mayor of the city of Boston I'm not going to say how I feel about this. I'm going to let the jury make their decision."
It's a question lots of people across Massachusetts are considering.
"There are some reasons why he should get killed, because you know he has killed - an eye for an eye. But again, we're a civilised society, so I think that we should just lock him up. And throw away the key," said Jeremy McGinty of Worcester. "Life in prison."
"I think he should stay in prison," said Karen Valente, from North Billerica. "I think it's more of a torment for a 21-year-old to live the rest of his life in prison. Not that I'm opposed to the death penalty. I just think he'll suffer more in prison."
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The circumstances push many Americans outside their usual convictions.
"I'm really against capital punishment, but in this case, I think he probably deserves it, because I don't see how someone can do something so heinous and then we, as members of society, have to pay for his upkeep," said John Immaraju, visiting from Orange County, California.
While Walsh is declining to say how he thinks the jury should rule, he said he is struck by the killer's reaction.
"I would expect somebody is to have done something hurtful like that, he would have a little remorse. It doesn't seem like he has any remorse at all. And I think the jury will see through that and make their judgment based on that," Walsh said.
Boston Architectural College student Ana Morales, a Houston native, believes the answer to that is a long, long time for the convicted Tsarnaev to realize what evil he did.
"Life in prison," she said. "I know it doesn't look like he seems particularly remorseful about what he did. But I think if he had life in prison to realize, I think he would come to feel sorry about that."
With videographer Marc Jackson
