BOSTON -- Prosecutors rested their case against Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on Monday after jurors in his federal death penalty trial saw gruesome autopsy photos and heard a medical examiner describe the devastating injuries suffered by the three people who died in the 2013 terror attack.
Tsarnaev's lawyer told the jury during opening statements that Tsarnaev participated in the twin bombings but that his older brother, Tamerlan, was the driving force behind the attack. Prosecutors believe the brothers were seeking retaliation against the U.S. for wars in Muslim countries.
Now that prosecutors have finished their case, Tsarnaev's lawyers are presenting theirs. The defense has made it clear since testimony began March 4 that its strategy during the two-phase trial is not to win an acquittal for Tsarnaev but to save him from the death penalty.
Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured when two pressure-cooker bombs exploded near the finish line April 15, 2013.
Prosecutors presented heart-wrenching testimony from survivors who lost legs in the bombings and from the father of 8-year-old Martin Richard, the youngest person killed in the explosions. A string of first responders described a chaotic mix of smoke, blood and screams just after the bombs went off.
Jurors openly cried as they viewed Martin's autopsy photos, which showed a gaping wound in his abdomen. Dr. Henry Nields, chief medical examiner for Massachusetts, said Martin received injuries to virtually every part of his body, including lacerations of his liver, left kidney and spleen. His stomach was also ruptured.
Nields also displayed the blood-stained, shredded clothing that Martin was wearing when the blasts went off. His parents listened from the second row of the courtroom, and Bill Richard kept his arm around his wife's shoulder.
Nields said Martin suffered broken bones and third-degree burns. The injuries caused him to bleed to death.
Tsarnaev's lawyers did not cross-examine any of the victims but instead focused on trying to show that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was more culpable in the attack and in the killing three days later of Massachusetts Institute of Technology police Officer Sean Collier.
The first witness called by the defense Monday was Michelle Gamble, a field photographer for the FBI who testified at the behest of prosecutors earlier in the day. Gamble had been asked by prosecutors to identify the photo that showed Dzhokhar Tsaarnaev standing just feet behind Martin, his younger sister, the rest of the Richards family and other children.
The defense case is expected to be relatively short. Once that is complete, jurors will deliberate on whether Tsarnaev is guilty of the 30 federal charges against him in the bombing, in Collier's killing and for his role in a violent confrontation with police in Watertown. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed during the confrontation, both by gunshots and from being run over by Dzhokhar as he escaped. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found more than 18 hours later hiding in a boat parked in a Watertown yard.
Hernandez's fiancee
testifies about box
FALL RIVER, Mass. -- The fiancee of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has testified in his murder trial that a box he asked her to get rid of smelled skunky and she thought it contained marijuana.
Hernandez is accused of the June 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd, who was dating his fiancee's sister.
Shayanna Jenkins testified Monday that Hernandez told her the day after Lloyd's body was found that it was important to get rid of the box. Prosecutors have previously suggested it might have held the murder weapon, which was never found.
Jenkins says she didn't look inside or ask Hernandez what was in it before throwing it away in a "random dumpster."
But on questioning from Hernandez's lawyer, she said for the first time that it smelled like marijuana.
Paternos' lawsuit
tossed out again
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The family of the late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno can't sue the NCAA and the university for breach of contract for their actions in response to the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, a Pennsylvania judge on Monday ruled for a second time.
Judge John Leete said an amended lawsuit filed by Paterno's family repeated the breach-of-contract claim that he had previously dismissed.
"Plaintiffs are not amending their complaint to include a new cause of action or even a new theory of an existing cause of action; rather they are attempting to resurrect a claim on which this court already dismissed," Leete wrote.
The estate had argued that the NCAA and university violated Paterno's rights through their investigations into how the Sandusky matter was handled, and statements in their 2012 consent decree that made harsh judgments about Paterno's actions.
Despite the ruling, other aspects of the lawsuit will continue to move forward. Paterno's estate is suing the NCAA defendants for commercial disparagement, saying the consent decree made false and defamatory statements that damaged commercial interests and value.
Sports on 03/31/2015