Jurors Tearful As Prosecution Rests Case In Marathon Bombing Trial
BOSTON (CBS) - A marathon spectator snapped an image with a cell phone from across Boylston Street, never realizing they had captured Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, half hidden behind a tree, just inches behind eight-year-old Martin Richard and his family.
It is the very spot where prosecutors say Tsarnaev left his pressure cooker bomb hidden in a backpack.
On Monday, to end their case, prosecutors showed jurors that photo, just before the testimony of the medical examiner who performed Richard's autopsy.
Several jurors wept openly as Dr. Henry Nields held up the blood soaked, torn, and burned clothes the little boy was wearing on Marathon Monday - two t-shirts, one with the Boston Celtics logo, the other, the New England Patriots - worn by a boy who loved his hometown.
Doctor Nields explained how Richard's body was ripped open by the blast - nearly every part of him was savaged by shrapnel. His pants were melted beyond recognition.
Jurors actually saw a few angles of the moment right before the second finish line explosion; an FBI photo expert testified exactly where Tsarnaev was standing and where they say he placed his bomb: right behind the Richard family and not far from Boston University graduate student Lingzi Lu.
Another medical examiner detailed Lu's excruciating death that included terrible injuries and incredible blood loss, as tearful jurors looked on.
The government rested its case just after noon and the defense started right up by bringing in their own digital evidence expert. The government had claimed Tsarnaev went to the marathon in 2012 with his friend Stephen Silva, but the defense used Tsarnaev's Twitter account postings from that day in an attempt to show he was actually on campus at UMass Dartmouth.
But under cross examination, the defense's own witness admitted that he could be wrong and Tsarnaev could have been there the year before the bombings as well.