Will Marathon bomber break his silence in court?

BOSTON – Will he finally speak?

Lawyers for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have said he feels remorse for the deadly attack, but the public has never heard directly from him. When he is formally sentenced today to death, he will be given an opportunity to address the court, but it’s not clear if he’ll take it.

Legal experts say Tsarnaev, 21, has little or nothing to gain by speaking since the judge is required to impose the death sentence recommended by the jury. Some wonder, though, whether he could decide to apologize or even make a political statement.

The 2013 twin bombings carried out by Tsarnaev and his late brother killed three people and injured more than 260, including 18 people who lost legs. The brothers also killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer days later.

In a message Tsarnaev scrawled inside a boat he hid in before he was captured, he said the attack was meant as retaliation against the U.S. for its actions in Muslim countries. During his trial, a Roman Catholic nun who visited Tsarnaev in prison said he expressed sympathy for the victims of the bombings.

“He said emphatically, ‘No one deserves to suffer like they did,”’ said Sister Helen Prejean, a staunch death penalty opponent made famous in the 1995 film “Dead Man Walking.”

Tsarnaev’s lawyers told the jury those words show that Tsarnaev is sorry for what he did, but some experts said it is impossible to know what he meant, given his impassive demeanor throughout the trial.

“He’s somewhat of an enigma at this point. No one really knows what he will do,” said attorney David Hoose, who represented veterans hospital nurse Kristen Gilbert in her 2003 federal death penalty trial for killing four patients. Gilbert received a life sentence.