Summary: The jury in the Boston bombing case has viewed disturbing photos and videos and has heard the emotional testimony of several survivors in the first week of trial.
On Monday, a survivor from the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings testified in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 21-year-old accused of planting bombs near the finish line of the race.
Fox News reports that Jessica Kensky, a nurse, took the stand on Monday. The blast from the bombs was so strong that it tossed her into the air as if she were “on a rocket.” The bomb ripped off the leg of her new husband at the time, Patrick Downes.
Kensky said after the bombs went off, the scene was chaotic, with “smoke and blood” everywhere. She was desperately trying to reach her husband. She recalled, “A man came over as I was trying to fumble to put a tourniquet on Patrick and said, ‘Ma’am, you’re on fire, you’re on fire.’” She felt a burning pain “from [her] shoulder blades all down [her] back.”
Jury selection began in January for the trial.
Kensky knew that she and her husband needed help. “I knew it was grim. I knew we needed help immediately. I didn’t realize how bad it was…I knew my husband was critically wounded.”
Kensky also ended up eventually losing her legs. Her left leg was amputated a few hours after the bombings, which took place on April 15, 2013. Kensky’s right leg was amputated in January. She fought against becoming a double amputee, she testified. “I wanted to paint my toenails and put my feet in the sand. To lose my right leg was a gut-wrenching decision.”
Kensky and her husband were two of 264 people injured in the attack. Three others were killed. Kensky’s testimony, which took place on the third day of trial, followed the testimony of other survivors who recalled the horror they experienced after two pressure-cooker bombs exploded near the end of the race. According to Reuters, the jury has heard testimony from 33 witnesses so far.
Kensky’s husband, Downes, was also present. Downes lost his left leg under the knee. The couple had been married around eight months when they were injured by the bombs.
Kensky recalled that she and Downes were near the back of the crowd of runners. The bombs went off around ten or fifteen minutes after they passed the finish line. “I remember being happy. I remember feeling sunlight on my face,” she said.
After the first bomb went off, Kensky was not sure what had just happened. “I just felt like I was on a rocket, straight up into the air. I didn’t know what happened. [I thought it was] a sewer explosion, something innocent like that.”
To accommodate Kensky’s wheelchair, a special ramp was installed at the courthouse. Rescue, her service dog, went with her to the witness stand.
Survivors have been questioned abut the death penalty.
Tsarnaev’s defense attorneys have argued that Dzhokhar was following the instructions of his older brother, Tamerlan, when he planted the bombs. Tamerlan was killed in a police shootout just three days after the 2013 attack. Tsarnaev’s attorneys are attempting to persuade the jury not to sentence him to death, should he be convicted at the end of the trial.
After Kensky’s testimony, prosecutors moved to introduce several photographs into evidence. These were taken both before and after the bombing. One such photograph depicted Kensky and Downes in the crowd. For the record, Kensky identified her husband by drawing a heart around him. Just behind the couple, Tsarnaev could be seen.
A video was also played for the jury. The video was compiled by the FBI, using surveillance videos from different stores and restaurants in the finish line area. The video captured the brothers moving about, and show Dzhokhar walking around with a backpack on his back, which he drops off in front of the Forum restaurant.
Another frame shows the backpack at Dzhokhar’s feet. The bag was located in a crowd of people, just a few feet from some children who were standing on a barrier to watch the race. One of these children, Martin Richard, 8, was killed, and his younger sister, Jane, lost a leg.
After the first bomb goes off, everyone in the video looks in the direction of the blast—except Tsarnaev. He instead begins walking in the opposite direction. A few seconds later, the second bomb detonates, and Tsarnaev is then seen running with a crowd of people. Many others are shown jumping over metal barriers, and smoke fills the area. Prosecutors accuse Tsarnaev of detonating the second bomb.
The judge in the case has a reputation for being strict, but fair.
Several tweets supposedly from two accounts allegedly owned by Dzhokhar were also read to the jury. On April 7, he tweeted, “If you have the knowledge and the inspiration all that’s left is to take action.” On March 10, he said, “I want the highest levels of Jannah. I want to be able to see allah every single day for that is the best of pleasures.” Jannah refers to the Islamic idea of paradise.
Three months before the bombings, in January, Dzhokhar tweeted, “I don’t argue with folks who say islam is terrorism it’s not worth a thing, let an idiot remain and idiot.”
The night of the bombings, he tweeted, “Ain’t no love in the heart of the city, stay safe people,” according to CNN.
Another grisly account of the bombings came from Danling Zhou, whose dear friend, 23-year-old Lingzi Lu, died after the second bomb went off. After the first bomb detonated, Lu grabbed Zhou’s arm, looking terrified, and said, “What happened? What should we do?” Before Zhou had a chance to answer her, the second bomb went off.
When Zhou came to, she was splayed across a fence, and her abdomen was torn open, exposing her inner organs. When she saw Lu, she thought she would be okay because her arms and legs were still attached. But Zhou found out later that Lu had died.
Both Zhou and Lu grew up in China and were graduate students at Boston University.
Dr. James Bath, another witness, attended the race with his wife as fans. Bath is a general practitioner from Charlestown. Bath tried to save Lu, but the flesh on one of her legs had been ripped to a point that she was bleeding to death. Bath said, “She was unconscious but breathing. She was also writhing and had vomited a bit. At this point, I didn’t feel I could be any more help to Lingzi Lu.”
Source: Fox News
Photo credit: bostonglobe.com