Few tears will be cast for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted in the Boston Marathon bombing that on April 15,2013, killed three people and wounded more than 260, many so seriously that limbs were lost and their lives forever altered. A police officer died during his attempted escape from justice. If not for the quick, organized response by emergency personnel and the treatment provided at Boston’s cutting-edge hospitals, likely many more would have died.

Most observers expected the jury in the federal trial held in Boston, after previously finding him guilty of the crimes, to hand down a death sentence. On Friday, after weighing mitigating and aggravating factors, that is what the jury did.

Given our longstanding opposition to government executions, this newspaper disagrees with the decision of the Justice Department to pursue the death penalty, but can’t fault the jurors for complying with the law presented to them.

Some injury victims and family members of the murdered had expressed a desire for a life sentence without possibility of parole. They recognized that a death sentence would bring many years of appeals — estimates range to 10 years or more — prolonging the public spectacle surrounding the bombing and making it that much harder for families touched by the attack to move on.

Other victims said they saw the death sentence verdict as closure, but it is questionable whether that will prove to be the case, considering the lengthy appeal process.

If the U.S. government does ultimately execute Mr. Tsarnaev, he will prove to be far more of a propaganda tool for Islamic terrorists than if the authorities had chosen to lock him away for life, largely forgotten.

It appears the murderer’s lack of remorse was a pivotal factor in the jury’s decision to go with the death penalty, but his attitude also suggests the 21-year-old would more eagerly embrace death than lifelong incarceration. Maybe if locked away permanently he would someday realize the horror of his actions.

That lack of remorse undermined the defense arguments that the young Tsarnaev was led astray by his older brother Tamerlan when they used shrapnel-filled pressure cooker bombs to kill people gathered near the marathon finish line, and when they later fatally shot an MIT police officer during their getaway.

No, it appears Dzhohar Tsarnaev acted of his own free will with no regrets. It would be better if the nation were now done with him. Instead, it will read of his legal fight for years to come.