Boston Marathon Trial: Death of Little Boy Recounted in Chilling Detail

Photo via WHDH

Jurors of the Boston Marathon bombings trial wept on Monday after a medical examiner delivered a vivid testimony about the injuries suffered by the youngest victim of the blast.

On the day prosecution rested its case, Massachusetts’ Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Henry Nields testified in the federal death penalty trial of admitted bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, saying that eight-year-old Martin Richard, who was 4 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 69 pounds, suffered a massive wound to his abdomen and the near-detachment of his left forearm.

The Boston Globe reported that on Monday the jurors viewed autopsy photos of Martin Richard which were not shown to those in the gallery. One juror covered her face as the photos were displayed on a monitor while other jurors looked angry or upset.

>>>Read the Globe story here

Nields, with the child’s parents in the courtroom, testified in U.S. District Court in Boston that nails and fragments of wood were found in Martin’s body. He showed the jury the child’s bloodstained gray New England Patriots T-shirt with holes created by injuries to his torso.

21-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces 30 charges, including 17 that could bring him the death penalty, in the April 15, 2013, blasts near the Marathon finish line. The tragedy led to the death of three people and wounded more than 260 others.

Tsarnaev, who prosecutors are calling a self-radicalized Muslim, admitted that he and his slain brother Tamerlan were responsible for the attack as well as the murder of MIT Police Officer Sean A. Collier in Watertown.

Tsarnaev’s attorneys are aiming to save him from the death penalty while jurors are considering whether to impose the option or life without parole.

If the jury convicts Tsarnaev, the trial will move to a second phase to determine his punishment. Tsarnaev’s defense lawyers tried four times to have the trial moved out of Boston.

Things to know about the death penalty in the Commonwealth:

• The last execution in Massachusetts, which was by electric chair, was in 1947.
• State courts struck down the death penalty in 1982, via Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).
• Tsarnaev’s case allows for capital punishment for about 50 crimes, as he has been charged in the federal court system. The detonation of weapons of mass destruction resulting in death is one of those crimes.

More Boston Marathon coverage on Patch:

• Watch: Gripping Video of Carjacked Victim’s Escape from Boston Marathon Bombers
• Shades of Infamous Child Killer Case Hang Over Tsarnaev Trial
• Boston Marathon Bomber Trial Begins, Defense Attorney: ‘It Was Him’
• Alleged Boston Marathon Bomber’s Widow Could Face Criminal Charges
• Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect’s Lawyers Seek Indictment Dismissal
• Tsarnaev Lawyers: Delay Trial Over Paris Attacks
• Death Penalty Complicates Boston Bomber Trial