Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be sent to death row.

The man known as the Boston Marathon bomber was sentenced to death by a jury in Boston on Friday. The decision to issue the death penalty had to be unanimous among all 12 jurors.

"We vote that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should be sentenced to death," the jury ruled. The verdict sets up the case for years, and perhaps even decades, of appeals. If Tsarnaev is eventually executed, it would be by lethal injection.

This was a decision many around Boston and the country had been waiting for. Though Tsarnaev went through an earlier phase of the trial to determine whether he was guilty, there was almost no doubt he would be convicted of conspiring with his older brother, Tamerlan, to set off two pressure-cooker bombs at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. Those blasts killed three people and injured more than 260.

In this courtroom sketch, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, center, stands with his defense attorneys as a death sentence is read on Friday. Image: Jane Flavell Collins/Associated Press

The Tsarnaev brothers fatally shot MIT Police Officer Sean Collier in the ensuing manhunt, and Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police. The younger Tsarnaev was found hiding in a boat four days after the bombing, after a citywide dragnet had shut down Boston.

Tsarnaev was convicted on all 30 counts with which he was charged in the guilt phase of the trial. Those charges included carrying out the bombing as well as some comparatively small charges, such as stealing a car from a businessman. The number of convictions had led some to believe there was a greater possibility that Tsarnaev would get the death penalty.

The Boston bomber's defense team had worked from the beginning to label Tsarnaev as a young man heavily influenced by his older brother's radical mind. Their goal was never to convince the jurors that Tsarnaev was innocent, just that he didn't deserve to die.

Death penalty protesters stand outside federal court, on April 27, in Boston. Image: Justin Saglio/Associated Press

Others also opposed the death penalty, including the parents of 8-year-old Martin Richard, who died in one of the blasts. In a letter published by The Boston Globe, Bill and Denise Richard wrote that they wanted the death penalty dropped:

We know that the government has its reasons for seeking the death penalty, but the continued pursuit of that punishment could bring years of appeals and prolong reliving the most painful day of our lives. We hope our two remaining children do not have to grow up with the lingering, painful reminder of what the defendant took from them, which years of appeals would undoubtedly bring.

Catholic bishops in Massachusetts also came out against the death penalty, and a Boston Globe poll found that less than 20% of Massachusetts residents supported putting Tsarnaev to death. Instead, around 63% in the traditionally liberal state supported a life sentence.

But federal prosecutors sought the harshest penalty for Tsarnaev's crimes. "The ultimate penalty is a fitting punishment for this horrific crime and we hope that the completion of this prosecution will bring some measure of closure to the victims and their families," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement following the announcement of the verdict.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev coldly and callously perpetrated a terrorist attack that injured hundreds of Americans and ultimately took the lives of three individuals: Krystle Marie Campbell, a 29-year-old native of Medford; Lingzi Lu, a 23-year-old Boston University graduate student from China; and Martin Richard, an 8-year-old boy from Dorchester who was watching the marathon with his family just a few feet from the second bomb. In the aftermath of the attack, Tsarnaev and his brother murdered Sean Collier, a 27-year-old patrol officer on the MIT campus, extinguishing a life dedicated to family and service. “We know all too well that no verdict can heal the souls of those who lost loved ones, nor the minds and bodies of those who suffered life-changing injuries from this cowardly attack. But the ultimate penalty is a fitting punishment for this horrific crime and we hope that the completion of this prosecution will bring some measure of closure to the victims and their families. We thank the jurors for their service, the people of Boston for their vigilance, resilience and support and the law enforcement community in Boston and throughout the country for their important work.

Some survivors of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing spoke out as well.

My heart is with our entire survivor community. I am thrilled with the verdict! #bostonstrong #bostonsafer — AdrianneHD (@AdrianneHaslet) May 15, 2015

My mother and I think that NOW he will go away and we will be able to move on. Justice. In his own words, "an eye for an eye". — Sydney Corcoran (@Sydney23Lynne) May 15, 2015

"I hope this verdict provides a small amount of closure to the survivors, families, and all impacted by the violent and tragic events surrounding the 2013 Boston Marathon," Boston Mayor Marty J. Walsh said in a statement. "We will forever remember and honor those who lost their lives and were affected by those senseless acts of violence on our City. Today, more than ever, we know that Boston is a city of hope, strength and resilience, that can overcome any challenge."