Dzhokhar Tsarnaev defence admits 'It was him' as Boston bombing trial begins
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Version 0 of 1. The trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – the surviving brother of the two accused perpetrators of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people – began on Wednesdaywith the defence making it clear it would not be disputing the fundamental facts of the case. “The government and the defence will agree on many things,” said Judy Clarke – one of the nation’s highest-profile death penalty specialists, who previously defended Unabomber Ted Kaczynski – in her opening statement. “On the day of the Boston Marathon, Tamerlan Tsarnaev walked down Boylston Street with a backpack on his back carrying a pressure cooker bomb in his backpack. [And] Dzhokhar Tsarnaev walked down Boylston street with a backpack with a pressure cooker bomb in it.” Referring to the defendant by his university nickname, she said: “If the question is: was it Jahar who dropped the backpack, [I’ll make it] easy for you. It was him.” She said that the defence would at no point attempt to sidestep Tsarnaev’s responsibility for his actions. However, Clarke also made clear that the defence differed from the prosecution’s characterisation of the relationship between the two brothers as a partnership. “It was Tamerlan Tsarnaev who self-radicalised; it was Jahar who followed him,” she said. “Both Tamerlan and Jahar’s computers had this library of extremist materials,” she said, “but the evidence will show you that while Tamerlan was … immersed in death and destruction, Jahar spent most of his time on the internet doing things that teenagers do. Facebook, cars, girls. “He came to his role from a very different path than that suggested by the prosecution,” she concluded. “A path suggested by his brother, paved by his brother. Unfortunately, and tragically, Jahar was drawn into his brother’s passion and plan – and that led him to Boylston Street.” Before Clarke spoke, assistant US attorney William Weinreb laid out the prosecution’s timeline of events in an emotional opening address which included showing the jury pictures of the victims and visceral details of the injuries they suffered. “The race had started, the sidewalks were packed with spectators … There were people from all over the world, and all walks of life, all loudly cheering the runners,” Weinreb said. “But the defendant wasn’t there to watch the race. He had a backpack over his shoulder, and inside the backpack was a home-made bomb, a type favoured by terrorists because it tears people apart and creates a spectacle. It was a pressure cooker, filled with little pieces of tiny shrapnel. The purpose of that bomb is to shred flesh … and cause its victims to die painful deaths,” Weinreb said. “The defendant’s goal that day was to kill and maim as many people as possible.” Survivors of the attack, including Bill and Denise Richard, who lost their eight-year-old son Martin in the bombing and whose daughter lost her leg, were in the courthouse to hear Weinreb describe the death of their son and maiming of their daughter in horrific detail. Dic Donohue, a Boston transport police officer who was shot during the citywide manhunt that followed the attack, was also present. As the prosecution spoke, Tsarnaev looked almost relaxed, his goatee trimmed, his hair fluffy and unkempt, wearing a grey suit and open-necked shirt. The survivors, including the Richards, stared at him intently – but he did not look at them. The protesters that have previously picketed the court were also absent on Wednesday. A single man holding a sign that said “Death Penalty is Murder” was the only one outside, looking a little forlorn among the hundreds of TV cameras and their crews. Weinreb said several times that Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan – who was killed during the manhunt that followed the bombing – were “partners” in perpetrating the attack. He said that Tsarnaev had become radicalised by listening to terrorist speeches online, and had in his possession issues of an al-Qaida magazine which included instructions on how to build a pressure cooker bomb like that used on the day of the marathon. He also described a manifesto which he said Tsarnaev had written on the wall of the boat in which he was found, which he said in part read: “I ask Allah to make me a shaheed, to allow me to return to him and be among the most righteous people in heaven. Allah akbar.” “Shaheed means martyr,” Weinreb said, adding: “He wrote ‘The US government is killing our innocent civilians … I can’t let this go unpunished.’” Weinreb also painted a picture of Tsarnaev’s behaviour following the bombing attack. “He went back to [University of Massachusetts] Dartmouth. He hung out with his friends and partied,” Weinreb said. “He went to the gym and partied. He posted on Twitter: ‘I’m a stress free kind of guy.’ “He acted that way because he believed that what he had done was good. He believed he was in a holy war, and had won an important victory in that war, and he believed that he had taken a step towards reaching paradise,” Weinreb said. “That was his motive.” Before swearing in the jury, judge George O’Toole denied a fourth defence motion requesting the trial be moved out of the city of Boston. The site of the bombing is just two miles from the courthouse. The trial continues. |