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Prosecutors rest case against Tsarnaev; Defense next

Jurors heard details Monday about the death of eight-year-old Martin Richard.

By Doug G. Ware
The FBI released a photo of Suspect 1 and Suspect 2 (L) in surveillance video from the Boston Marathon. Suspect 1 is now identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and Suspect 2 is his brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, both of Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 19, 2013. Both are suspected of planting the bombs that killed three and injured 170 during the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Tamerlan was killed by police on April 18, 2013 and Dzhokhar is still on the loose near Boston. UPI
The FBI released a photo of Suspect 1 and Suspect 2 (L) in surveillance video from the Boston Marathon. Suspect 1 is now identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and Suspect 2 is his brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, both of Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 19, 2013. Both are suspected of planting the bombs that killed three and injured 170 during the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Tamerlan was killed by police on April 18, 2013 and Dzhokhar is still on the loose near Boston. UPI | License Photo

BOSTON, March 30 (UPI) -- The government on Monday rested its case against accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, following graphic gut-wrenching testimony about the last moments of 8-year-old Martin Richard's life.

Tsarnaev is charged with 30 criminal counts stemming from the deadly April 15, 2013 attack that also injured dozens and led to the subsequent death of a college police officer. Martin, along with Krystle Campbell, 29, and Lingzi Lu, 23, died from injuries sustained in the blast. Sean Collier, a campus police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was shot to death days later.

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Monday heard testimony from Chief Medical Examiner Henry Nields, who described the injuries and damage done to Richard's body -- a recounting of the boy's harrowing experience that reduced several jurors to shock and tears.

Tsarnaev, 21, sat at the defense table, expressionless, as the courtroom listened to the ghastly details of the attack, ABC News reported.

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Nields described the damage done to Richard by one of the detonated pressure cooker bombs -- nails, pieces of plastic, round pellets, pieces of wood and shards of exploded metal that viciously invaded the boy's 4-foot-5 frame. Photos of his clothing -- a black jacket, a Boston Celtics jersey, and a New England Patriots shirt -- shredded by the blast and stained with the child's blood, were shown to jurors.

ABC News reported that most jurors displayed clear signs of shock and sadness. Several of the female jurors couldn't contain their tears, and others sat with disturbed looks ingrained on their faces.

When asked if the boy died a painful death, Nields said simply, "yes."

For weeks, prosecutors laid out their case against the younger Tsarnaev -- painting a portrait of a very disturbed and seething young man who plotted the attack with his older, more militant brother, Tamerlan. The pair, prosecutors argued, were motivated by Islam and sought to wreak havoc in the United States in retaliation for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Government attorneys presented witness after witness, survivor after survivor, relative after relative over the last few weeks.

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"I could not look into his eyes because he wouldn't look at me," victim Rebekah Gregory told ABC News after she testified earlier this month. "But I tried and I looked him in the face several times and I wanted him to know I was not scared of him."

Gregory, who lost her leg in the attack, called Tsarnaev a "coward" who couldn't "face what he's really done."

"I took my place at the witness stand and I looked at him and it was just exhilarating for me to be sitting in front of the person who tried to destroy my life, but knowing that I'm so much stronger because of it," she said.

Tsarnaev's defense will now have its opportunity to present its case to the jury. They are not disputing that Tsarnaev was involved in the terrorist activities. Instead, they will try to persuade jurors that he was heavy influenced by his radical older brother and was unable to resist his force.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed following a shootout with police three days after the marathon attack. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured less than a day later. Of the 30 criminal counts against him, four are murder charges.

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Defense attorneys have said their intention is to spare Tsarnaev the death penalty.

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