After leaking Tsarnaev pics, would police photographer do it again?

It's been nearly a year since the world's eyes were focused on Watertown, Mass., during one of the largest manhunts in American history.

Massachusetts State Trooper Sean Murphy documented the operation that finally captured Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

On April 19, 2013, Tsarnaev was pulled from a small motor boat in a backyard in a quiet neighborhood.

No one had a better view of what went down in the backyard of the house on Franklin Street in Watertown than Murphy.

Tsarnaev's brother, Tamerlan, was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police during the manhunt for the two, who were wanted in connection with the two explosions that tore through the Boston Marathon and the murder of a MIT police officer.

"I was in this building, adjacent from boat, the rear of this building in a window that was looking directly at this boat," Murphy said in an exclusive interview with "CBS This Morning."

Murphy was a tactical photographer with the state police. His job was to chronicle operations as they unfolded. "When he arose from the boat my first thought was, we've got him, he's not going anywhere else," Murphy said.

For months, the pictures Murphy took of Tsarnaev's capture were kept out of the public light since they were the property of the state police.

Then last July, Murphy saw the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, which he, like so many in Boston, thought depicted Tsarnaev as a rock star. He was astonished.

"Oh, it was totally offensive. I think it was anyone who saw that cover knew it was offensive and knew it was wrong," Murphy said."I was upset that they did that. I knew it hurt a lot of people," he said.

In response, Murphy decided to release the photos of Tsarnaev, though he didn't have the authority.

The photos depicted a bloody Tsarnaev with his arms up and forehead colored red from the laser beams of sniper rifles.

"Knowing that I had the images that really showed that that guy, not fluffed and buffed for the cover of Rolling Stone, but as he really looks on the day he was captured, is very simple for me. I knew that people had to see those images," he said.

After the photos were published, Murphy was suspended and then reassigned to a graveyard shift on the desk. He eventually worked out a deal where after 25 years, he retired from the state police with his pension.

Murphy said he would absolutely release the photos again even despite knowing it would end his career."It was never about me. It was never about the state police. ... If people were in my shoes, I would think that they would have done the same thing I did," he said.

Last week, Edward Deveau, Watertown's police chief, testified in front of a House committee about Tsarnaev's capture in Washington D.C.

He's concerned the release of those pictures could force a change in location for the trial.

"We get frustrated sometimes how things go but we want to make sure we get that conviction at the end of the day," Deveau said. "I know he (Murphy) was frustrated and probably shouldn't have done it but I understand."

But in South Boston, support for Murphy among fellow law enforcement remains strong. "I have never spoken to anyone face-to-face who has been critical of what I did, not one," Murphy said.

This year, instead of working the marathon, Murphy will be running it in honor of 8-year-old Martin Richard, the youngest victim a year ago.

So far, he's raised more than $11,000 for the Martin Richard Foundation, which invests in education, athletics and community.

Murphy spends much of his time working for the foundation and not giving very much thought at all to his decision to make these pictures public. "Sometimes doing what's not right is the right thing to do," he said.