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GRUESOME DETAILS OF injuries sustained by victims of the Boston Marathon bombings were recounted to jurors as lawyers for the student on trial for the attack admitted he carried out the bloody assault.
Nearly two years after what was the worst attack on US soil since 9/11, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s trial got under way in a federal court packed with victims, survivors and the media.
Prosecutors said Tsarnaev, 21, had carried out the attacks to avenge the deaths of Muslims overseas after learning how to build pressure-cooker bombs through Al-Qaeda propaganda.
The Kyrgyzstan-born US citizen faces the death penalty if convicted of the bombings which killed three people and wounded 264, on 15 April 2013.
In a dramatic opening statement by Tsarnaev’s defense defence team, attorney Judy Clarke admitted the client had planted the bombs, telling jurors bluntly: “It was him.”
“We do not and will not at any point sidestep or attempt to sidestep Dzhokhar’s responsibility for his actions,” she said.
She said the defense would agree with the government about much of the evidence and instead appealed on the jury to keep their hearts and minds open for the second half of the trial focused on the sentencing.
Government prosecutors meanwhile painted the picture of a cold, callous killer who calmy shopped for milk just 20 minutes later as paramedics battled in vain to save a mortally wounded eight-year-old boy.
Assistant US attorney William Weinreb used much of his 50-minute address to emphasise the horror unleashed when Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan allegedly planted two bombs near the race finish line.
‘Shred flesh, shatter bones’
As the jury were shown pictures of victims Krystle Marie Campbell, Lingzi Lu and Martin Richard in happier days, Weinreb described in graphic detail the injuries that saw them bleed to death on the sidewalk.
Martin was so small that the bomb damaged his entire body, exposing his ribs and organs, eviscerating his bowels and burning his skin. He lost so much blood that he had practically none left, the prosecutor said.
“The purpose of this bomb was to shred flesh, shatter bones, set people on fire,” Weinreb told the court.
The purpose was to kill and maim as many people as possible.
Tsarnaev showed no emotion as the details of his alleged crimes were read out, looking straight ahead or resting one finger against his lip, his hair a mop of dark brown unruly curls, and wearing a dark blazer and a pin-stripped shirt.
Weinreb said that Tsarnaev may have lived outwardly the life of an ordinary University of Massachusetts student but “he had a side to him that he kept hidden” and was reading terrorist literature as early as 2011.
It was that literature that convinced him to kill Americans to punish them for killing Muslims overseas and to earn him a place in paradise, he said.
Inside a boat, the bolthole where he was eventually arrested four days after the attacks, Tsarnaev left a message criticising the US government over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Stop killing our innocent people, and we will stop,” said part of the message that was read out.
Al-Qaeda propaganda
An almost complete set of Al-Qaeda’s English-language magazine Inspire – which taught the brothers how to make their bombs – audio lectures and songs were found on his laptop, ipod and on CDs in his car, he said.
Months before the attacks he obtained a handgun through a friend and the brothers went to a shooting range for target practice. The day after the attacks, he again opened up Inspire on his computer.
Tsarnaev, who became a US citizen in 2012, has pleaded not guilty to 30 charges over the attacks, the subsequent killing of a police officer, a car jacking and shootout with police while on the run.
Tamerlan was killed in the shootout, and run over by his brother who eventually surrendered on April 19 after being discovered in the boat in a suburban backyard.
Seventeen of the 30 charges against him carry the possibility of a death penalty under federal law. Massachusetts abolished the death penalty in 1984 and no one has been executed in the state since 1947.
Tsarnaev’s attorney said her client had been radicalized by his elder brother.
“It was Tamerlan Tsarnaev who self-radicalised. It was Dzhokhar who followed,” she said.
The jury of eight men and 10 women was sworn in Tuesday after a two-month selection process delayed by historic snowfall and repeated attempts to move the trial elsewhere, rejected by District Judge George O’Toole.
Tsarnaev moved to the United States aged eight, finished school and was a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
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Person gets a €300 fine for no car tax in court. He doesn’t pay this fine and it turns into a penal warrant that states that he had to do 5 days in prison for not paying it. The Gardai find him ask him if he wants to pay. He says no and maybe 2 or 3 with the same fines will go to the prison with 2 or 3 Gardai in a taxi. They get dropped at the prison, maybe fed a dinner and then released in the evening with a train or bus ticket home paid for by the prison. Personally I think we’d be better off claiming from his wages if he was working or maybe €5 per week if he’s on social welfare. Then maybe we could break even instead of losing money every time someone gets a fine in court.
I remember reading about linking court fines to social welfare and that the gardai have been asking for that for years but for reasons unknown, the government refuses. Too much of a good idea
How very Irish water of you!
Probably cheaper than having a prisoner transport quango with a full team of administrators and highly paid CEO to boot.
Exactly why im refusing to pay for water
The government tell us we all have to pay our way, blah, blah, yet they waste millions of our taxes on $hite like this and people are actually ok with this?
Not a huge amount in fairness. There will always be a cost in the implementation of the justice system and perhaps this method is sometimes more pragmatic and cost effective.
It’s APRIL.so st this rate circa €240,000 end of year!!!
Why not use the military police to escort prisoners? It would be excellent training for them while doing a service to the country?
Military police have no powers over the civilian population, And I for one would not like to see them get any. Also I’m not sure it would be any cheaper.
#Francis they were minding Covernment buildings. I’d say Enda would love to have them out on the street to keep him in office. He’s turning this county upside down and trying to cause a civil war with his shananigans.
How many planes do we have, like in that documentary Con Air?
Seriously though, can the fare not be charged to the prisoner or deducted from their S/W where applicable as part of the sentence?
The public service have always been too willing to spend tax payers money. Instead of using a bit of brain power they just take the easy and more expensive option.
What’s up the cheaper option?
Well Tadhg, if in 2010, they had built the criminal courts of justice beside Mountjoy or even within Mountjoy some money would have been saved. However, they were too busy paying €30 million for a potato field at Thornton Hall.
http://www.herald.ie/news/30m-prison-site-goes-to-seed-as-vegetable-plot-29767224.html
That’s fair enough (I disagree with it but I see your point), but what does that have to do with the guards transporting prisoners from rural Ireland via taxi?
Typical of this government
Decisions like this are made at a much lower level than Government.
Blaming Enda and the Government for this is like blaming a dog when you get bitten by a flea!
Haha brilliant Ross
Nice cosy contract for some TDs relatives ……Ireland a great little country to do corruption in.
If you have any actual evidence that this is the case, then bring it to the authorities.
I suspect that it is much more likely that it would actually be dealt with now than if it was say 10 years ago.
However, if you have no evidence, then your comment is nothing more than ill-informed speculation and is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
That’s why when a lot of guards reach retirement they pick up a taxi plate in rural towns,
Ross.. have you been living in Ireland at all ? this type of shite happens every day. the politicians look after their own and we generally know fu,ck all about it .
Ross, that is like saying there is no crime without proof or that there is no nepotism in the civil service. You can be damn sure some taxi driver knows someone! Ligging is the Irish way. It is not up to everyman to get proof, it is up to the elected to stop fvcking us over, every chance they get!!
Con, read my comment again.
What I actually said and your “that’s like saying ….” scenario bear no relationship whatsoever to each other.
The taxi transport thing sound like a reasonable and practical solution to me. The revolving door of the prison service does not. Just bring in the legislation so fines can be deducted from source and scrap the €188 weekly minimum
In Amsterdam if you take an escort the Taxi is free ;) watch this: http://www.amsterdamtopescort.com/
Better with the bike :)))
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