Video Shows Tsarnaev Giving Middle Finger To Surveillance Camera
BOSTON (CBS) - The frozen video image of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev flipping the middle finger at the camera in his holding cell before his July, 2013 arraignment is a powerful one. That is why prosecutors put it into evidence Wednesday.
But his defense team successfully fought to get the whole video admitted into evidence, to suggest to the jurors that a one second flip-off doesn't mean as much as a still photo of the same thing.
The extended video seen by jurors shows Tsarnaev fixing his hair in the reflection of the camera housing and flashing what looks like a peace sign before flipping the bird.
However, the two-fingered gesture that represents the peace sign to many also represents an offensive gesture in some cultures.
In the video it's clear his palm is not forward as it would be in the traditional "peace" gesture. He's flashing something else, either an imitation of a gang sign, the number two, or more likely, an obscene gesture used in some parts of the world, including Europe, which is the equivalent of flipping the bird.
While jurors can soon talk amongst themselves about the importance of that image, there was no denying the power of the video shows from the explosion Tsarnaev caused outside Forum restaurant.
Bombing survivor Adrianne Haslet-Davis could barely explain through her sobs on the witness stand what it was like when she lost her leg there.
At first she said she felt nothing, then came the searing pain. "I heard my husband scream a scream that was earth-shattering and that I'd never heard before," Haslet-Davis testified.
As she and her husband bled uncontrollably, Haslet-Davis felt sure she wouldn't make it.
"I thought there would be more bombs going off and no one was coming to save us," she said.
As she stepped down from the stand, she shot Tsarnaev a long stare that the convicted murderer did not return.
Survivor Eric Whalley next told jurors how he and his wife still suffer from the incredible injuries they sustained that day. He shared graphic descriptions of their injuries.
His words followed the emotionally-draining testimony by the family of MIT police officer Sean Collier who was shot dead by the Tsarnaev brothers.
His younger brother Andrew testified that "even when we're having fun, there's always a cloud. I miss Sean. I miss everything about him."
Collier's step father told jurors that time hasn't made things better.
"I just feel beat down after two years of this," Joe Rogers testified. "Sometimes it still feels like it's a dream."
Some jurors cried openly during the testimony of the final witness of the day, Jinyan Zhoa, the aunt of Lingzi Lu, the Boston University graduate student killed by one of the pressure cooker bombs. Zhoa explained how Lu's family chose to bury her in Boston, the city she quickly came to love, even though they remain in China, devastated by their loss.
