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| In this courtroom sketch, Boston Marathon bombing survivor Steve Woolfenden, right, is depicted on the witness stand beside a photo of his injured son Leo being carried to safety, left, during the penalty phase in the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Thursday, April 23, 2015, in federal court in Boston. Tsarnaev was convicted of all 30 charges against him. Three people were killed and more than 260 others were wounded when twin bombs exploded near the finish line of the marathon April 15, 2013. |
BOSTON (AP)
-- A video played Thursday at the trial of Boston Marathon bomber
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev showed a mother crouched over her 8-year-old son as he
lay dying on the sidewalk, a scene prosecutors hoped would linger in
jurors' minds while they determine whether Tsarnaev lives or dies.
Prosecutors
rested their case after playing the video during the testimony of a man
who lost his leg in the bombings, and jurors watched as the mother
pleaded with her little boy.
"I heard `please'
and `Martin' being uttered by Denise Richard," said Steve Woolfenden,
who was lying on the pavement next to Martin and his mother after the
second bomb exploded. "Just pleading with her son."
The boy bled to death.
Prosecutors
presented the testimony and searing images to give the jury one last
reminder of the brutality and heartbreaking consequences of the bombings
before the defense begins to present its case next week.
Prosecutors
argue Tsarnaev, now 21, deserves to be executed for his crimes, while
his lawyers say his life should be spared because his late older
brother, Tamerlan, was the mastermind of the attack.
Woolfenden's
left leg was sheared off below the knee. He described frantically
trying to get his 3-year-old son, Leo, out of his stroller after he
heard him screaming and saw he was bleeding from the side of his head.
As he lay helpless on the pavement, he spotted Martin and Denise
Richard.
"I saw Martin's face," Woolfenden said. "I could see a boy that was, looked like he was fatally injured."
Three
people were killed and more than 260 others were wounded when the bombs
exploded near the finish line of the marathon on April 15, 2013.
Tsarnaev
was convicted this month of all 30 charges against him. The jury that
found him guilty must decide whether to sentence him to life in prison
or to death.
Also Thursday, several relatives
of Tsarnaev, who's originally from Kyrgyzstan, flew into Boston,
according to a law enforcement official who wasn't authorized to release
that information and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Tsarnaev's
mother, who faces a 2012 shoplifting charge in a Boston suburb, was not
among them, the official said.
Tsarnaev's
lawyers are scheduled to begin presenting their witnesses on Monday, and
some of his relatives may be called to the stand.
Woolfenden described the terror he felt as he tried to help his son while trying to stanch blood pouring from his own leg.
"I
took off my belt, and I applied it on my thigh as tight as I possibly
could," he said. "Leo was crying and screaming uncontrollably. He was
saying, `Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy, Mommy, Daddy, Mommy,
Daddy.'"
A bystander came over and offered help.
Woolfenden said he told the man, "Please get my son to safety."
The man tied another tourniquet on Woolfenden's leg and then took his son.
"I was completely terrified because I didn't know if I was ever going to see my son again," he said.
Leo was hospitalized with a skull fracture, lacerations, small burns and a perforated eardrum.
An
FBI field photographer, Michelle Gamble, showed the jury a paper
mock-up of a metal grate where Tsarnaev placed the second bomb. She said
the bomb exploded about 3 1/2 feet from Martin Richard.
Trauma
surgeon Dr. David King testified Martin didn't die instantly and his
liver, spleen and intestines were painfully twisted and stretched by the
blast.
Martin's parents recently said they
want the Department of Justice to take the death penalty off the table
in exchange for a life sentence and Tsarnaev agreeing to give up his
rights to appeal.
Also testifying Thursday was Heather Abbott, whose left leg was amputated after the bombing.
Abbott,
of Newport, Rhode Island, said she was catapulted through the entrance
of a restaurant when the second bomb exploded. She said her foot felt as
though it were on fire, so she began crawling through the restaurant to
follow a crowd of people trying to get away.
Later,
in a hospital, a doctor recommended amputating her left leg below the
knee. Her heel had been blown off, and her foot was severely damaged.
"It was probably the hardest decision I've ever had to make," she said.
Abbott
identified photos of 16 other people who lost limbs. The photos showed
the amputees wearing prosthetic limbs, in wheelchairs and on crutches.
Another
amputee, Marc Fucarile, testified from a wheelchair and glared at
Tsarnaev as he sat about 10 feet away with his lawyers. Tsarnaev did not
look at him and stared straight ahead impassively.
Fucarile,
whose right leg was blown off, said he has had more than 60 surgeries.
Two years after the bombing, it's still unclear whether his left leg can
be saved, he said.
"We are going to try," he said.
