The sentencing phase has begun for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Some victims are calling for federal prosecutors to drop the death penalty request, settle for life in prison and close the case for good.
The jury which convicted Tsarnaev of all 30 charges in the federal case earlier this month now has to decide whether Tsarnaev deserves to be executed for carrying out the April 15, 2013 attacks on the race with his older brother.
The bombing killed three people, shredded the limbs of dozens of survivors and injured more than 260 bystanders.
The sentencing phase comes a day after 30,000 people raced through the cold, rain and wind in the 2015 marathon.
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Tsarnaev's defence team will present mitigating evidence to argue that Tsarnaev should be sentenced to life in prison. They argue he was under the sway of his radicalised brother, Tamerlan, who it has portrayed as the mastermind behind the attacks.
Tsarnaev was only 19 at the time of the bombing.
His brother Tamerlan was killed during the man-hunt that followed the bombing. A police officer at MIT university was also killed during the search and Tsarnaev was convicted of involvement in his death too.
Among the victims who oppose the death penalty are Bill and Denise Richard, the parents of 8-year-old Martin who was the youngest person killed by the attack. Adding additional weight to their plea is the fact that Martin's sister Jane lost a leg and his mother Denise was blinded in one eye in the bombing.
"The continued pursuit of that punishment could bring years of appeals and prolong reliving the most painful day of our lives," they wrote in an open letter in The Boston Globe newspaper.
Martin Weinberg, a Boston-based criminal defence lawyer, meanwhile said that it is "not impossible" that the government would drop the death penalty, however, he said he doubted they would do it.
"It will be very hard for the Department of Justice to reverse their case - particularly given that Tsarnaev would have plead guilty on day one if there was not a death penalty involved," he said.
Tsarnaev's defence has admitted to his responsibility for the attack since the beginning of the trial.
