Jury sees graphic photos of Boston Marathon bombing victim
BOSTON -- A medical examiner testifying Thursday in the trial of confessed Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev described in graphic detail the devastating injuries that ravaged the body of a 29-year-old woman and caused her to bleed to death on the pavement.
One juror cried and wiped her face with a tissue as the jury looked at autopsy photos and listened to the description of injuries suffered by Krystle Campbell. Judge George O'Toole Jr. would not allow the photos to be shown on public monitors, so people in the courtroom could not see the images; only the jurors saw them.
CBS Boston: Live updates from Boston Marathon bombing trial
In addition to Campbell, a restaurant manager, eight-year-old Martin Richard and 23-year-old Lingzi Lu were killed when twin pressure-cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the marathon on April 15, 2013. More than 260 people were injured, including at least 16 who lost legs in the explosions.
Tsarnaev's lawyer admitted during opening statements that he participated in the bombings but said he fell under the influence of his late older brother, Tamerlan, whom the defense has portrayed as the mastermind of the terror attack.
Prosecutors say the Tsarnaev brothers also shot and killed MIT police officer Sean Collier three days after the bombings.
That same night, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev was wounded during a gunbattle with police and run over by Dzhokhar as he escaped. After a manhunt that shut down much of the Boston area, Dzhokhar was found more than 18 hours later, hiding in a boat parked in a yard in Watertown.
Dr. Jennifer Hammers, the medical examiner who performed Campbell's autopsy, testified the young woman had wounds all over her body, including gaping wounds to her legs, third-degree burns to her back and numerous wounds from BBs and pieces of metal. She said she removed numerous pieces of flat metal and pellets embedded in Campbell's wounds.
"Many of them were very deep, through the whole surface of the skin into the muscle," Hammers said. She said Campbell bled to death, but not immediately.
"Based on those injuries, you would estimate that she could have lived for up to a minute?" Assistant U.S. Attorney William Weinreb asked.
"That's correct," Hammers responded.
Earlier Thursday, jurors examined models of the pressure cooker bombs used in the 2013 deadly attacks, CBS Boston reported.
FBI bomb expert Edward Knapp testified the FBI constructed the models from parts similar to those found at the scene of the twin bombings.
Jurors then passed around the models and looked at the parts, including hobby fuse, a toggle switch and electronic speed controllers from remote-controlled cars.
Knapp said the bombs were "not too difficult" to build, using readily available parts and instructions easily found on the Internet.
The jury was dismissed for the weekend after Thursday's testimony concluded.
On Monday, prosecutors plan to call two other medical examiners to testify about the deaths of Martin Richard, a Boston boy who was with his parents, sister and brother at the marathon, and Lingzu Lu, a graduate student at Boston University from China.
After that testimony, prosecutors are expected to rest their case in the first phase of the trial, the guilt phase. Then the defense will present its case, which is expected to be brief since Tsarnaev's lawyers have admitted his guilt.
During the second phase of the trial -- known as the penalty phase -- the same jury will decide if Tsarnaev is sentenced to death or spends the rest of his life in prison.