Day 3: When Marathon Bombing victim Jess Kensky took the witness stand last Monday at U.S. District Court in Boston, she testified about her experience the day the two bombs went off at the finish line in April 2013. Kensky lost both her legs from the bombing and has had 20 surgeries.
Boston College Law Professor Robert Bloom says the prosecution, in its opening statement, was trying to put the jurors at the scene of the crime. Bloom says, "hearing the testimony, showing the awful injuries that occurred, and the heroism displayed by police and public safety personnel, shows the courage they took in risking their lives to remove the injured away from the scene."
Bloom says the defense attorney’s strategy during cross examination, Judy Clark posed the question of how Tamerlan Tsarnaev was leading his younger brother, the defendant, onto Boylston Street the day the bombs went off.
Professor Bloom says Clark is seeking to demonstrate the older brother’s influence on Dzhokhar and that he was following his older brother.
According to Bloom, http://www.bc.edu/schools/law/fac-staff/deans-faculty/bloomr.html, the twitter accounts introduced by the prosecution is meant to demonstrate that he was Islamic terrorist, and not someone posting religious tweets mixed with social chatter.
Tsarnaev Boat Writings Show Defendants State Of Mind
Day 4: The trial of admitted Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokar Tsaraev took another dramatic turn Tuesday when a Boston Police officer testified in U.S. District Court about searching the boat where Tsarvaev was hiding and ultimately captured by police in Watertown on April 19,2013.
Inside the boat were writings that Tsarnaev had scribbled in pencil with references to his Islamic faith and permission to kill innocent people in defense of other Muslims according to the witness.
Northeastern University Law Professor Daniel Medwed who has expertise in the area of criminal law and is a renowned scholar on wrongful convictions, says the "writings are very important to the prosecution because they show Tsarnaev's state of mind in the aftermath of the crime."
He says the reason why the defense wants to introduce the whole boat is because," it provides context for Tsarnaev actions, and shows he acted under the influence of his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. According to Medwed, the defense theory showing jurors the life-sized boat, gives the whole picture ...the bullet riddled boat, and all of the panels inside where he was hiding... demonstrates that Tsarnaev acted under the shadow of his brother, and not in a clear state of mind."
Tsarnaev Defense Seeks To Challenge Prosecutions' Credibility
Day 5: It’s difficult to determine if the defense strategy to spare admitted Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev the death penalty is working, but Northeastern University Law Professor Daniel Medwed says it’s a sound strategy.
He says the case for the defense, “is premised on a broader context to the story and that he was under the influence of his domineering older brother. However, he adds Judge George O’Toole is limiting the defense attorney's ability to develop that theory during the guilt phase.”
Medwed says the defense is pointing out the flaws in the technology, suggesting that Tsarvaev’s twitter account had a number of postings, not just Jihadist religious postings, but some relating to girls and other teenage pursuits.
Medwed says the Tsarnaev's attorneys' are seeking to demonstrate the cell phone was used for many other things and that allows the defense to go after technological evidence, and pursue its strategy without engendering animosity from jurors.
According to Medwed, testimony from a prosecution witness, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student, who says he observed the defendant leaning into the police cruiser of an MIT officer who was fatally shot in April 2013, shows important post-bombing narrative and "consciousness of guilt."
Friday: March 13,2015
The second week of testimony concludes and the Boston Marathon Bombing trial takes a break from courtroom action Friday, March 13, 2015.
WGBH's Emily Rooney has an insider's view of the first full week of testimony from dozens of victims, witnesses, several FBI agents, and discussion about the possible written confession on the inside of a boat the defendant was hiding in when he was captured on April 19, 2013.
Rooney along with a team of WGBH reporters, senior reporter Phillip Martin and Adam Reilly, are reporting each day from the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Boston.
