By the time court recessed at day's end, it had proven to be a grueling day.
Prosecutors moved quickly enough through witnesses Wednesday, day two of the penalty phase for convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
But it was not the pace, it was the emotional content that defined the day -- stories of lost limbs and lost loved one's.
The prosecution presented more victims of the bombing to the jury, including the family of slain MIT police officer Sean Collier, and ballroom dancer Adrianne Haslet Davis, who lost a foot in the 2013 explosion.
But it was a photo of Tsarnaev flipping the bird that provoked controversy.
In a dramatic moment Tuesday, the prosecution showed jurors a July 2013 photo of Tsarnaev in his holding cell in which he is seen giving the finger to a security camera.
But the defense introduced two minutes of video from that same time showing Tsarnaev speaking to a U.S. Marshall, then tousling his hair in the reflection from the camera lens. He first makes a "V" with two fingers, then drops one leaving the middle digit up.
He was calm and undefiant and it would be inaccurate to say he was flipping off Boston and the marathon victims — still, he did it.
While Tsarnaev sat stoically stroking his beard — the family of slain MIT police officer Sean Collier described how his murder affected their close-knit family. One sister moved south and his mother has barely been able to function.
Jurors also heard from Eric Wally, a 67-year-old athlete who suffered grave and gruesome injuries to his eye and legs.
The last witness of the day was an aunt to BU student Lingzi Lu, who said Lu was beautiful, studious, and nerdy. The prosecution then ran a video of the moving eulogy given by Lu's father
Meanwhile, the prosecution is expected to close its case Friday. The defense will proceed Monday in its effort to dissuade the jury from sentencing Tsarnaev to death.
