Defense shifts focus to Tamerlan in opening statements

Since March 5, the focus of the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been — unsurprisingly so — on Dzhokhar, the 21-year-old former University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student who was convicted on April 8 of 30 federal counts, including the responsibility for placing two bombs on Boylston Street at the 2013 Boston Marathon.

But on Monday, as the defense began presenting its case to save Tsarnaev from the death penalty — 17 of the 30 counts carry the death penalty — Tsarnaev began to share the spotlight with someone else, his deceased older brother, Tamerlan.

Through opening statements, defense attorney David Bruck painted Dzhokhar as a “lost teenager,” who admired his older brother of seven years and obeyed his every request. Bruck acknowledged the nature of the crimes committed by the Tsarnaev brothers and emphasized that the best punishment for Dzhokhar would be imprisonment for the rest of his life.

“You’ve all probably realized by now that no punishment, no punishment could ever be equal to the terrible effects of these crimes on the innocent people who were killed or hurt or on their families. There is no evening the scales,” Bruck said. “There’s no point in trying to hurt him because he hurt, because it can’t be done. All we can do, all you can do, is to make the best choice.”

To paint a picture of the punishment Dzhokhar would face in prison, Bruck showed a picture of the federal prison in Colorado where Dzhokhar would most likely be sent. From the cells, all inmates can see of the outside world is a patch of sky through a small window.

By sending Dzhokhar to this prison, Bruck said, “you’ll both punish him and protect society at the same time.”

“He goes here and he’s forgotten,” he said. “No more spotlight like the death penalty brings. His legal case will be over for good. And no martyrdom.”

The opening statements gave a brief preview of what the defense’s case will hold — a background to the life of Dzhokhar, with a large focus on the character of Tamerlan and the relationship between the two brothers.

The explanation will be offered not as an excuse, Bruck said, but rather a way to understand what led Dzhokhar to Boylston Street on April 15, 2013.

“Nothing you’re going to hear from the defense in the coming days is going to suggest that Dzhokhar couldn’t control himself … No one is going to tell you that you should feel sorry for him,” Bruck said. “Considered with everything else, we think it will show that as awful as this crime was, a lifetime in prison to face what he has done is the better choice for everybody.”

The defense’s first witness was Laith Al-Behacy, a 46-year-old store manager who came to Boston from Egypt in 2008. He testified that he had seen Tamerlan several times in the store and interacted with him on the day of the 2013 marathon.

“When he came that day, while I was watching the news on my laptop, and I think he grabbed some cookies or chocolate, and I told him, ‘Did you hear about the marathon bombing?’ and he said ‘No.’ and I said, as a joke, ‘So you’re not the one who did it?’ and he said, ‘No.’”

Al-Behacy also spoke about an incident that occurred in the Islamic Society of Boston mosque in Cambridge in which Tamerlan yelled at the imam for making comparisons between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mohammed.

Following the questioning of Al-Behacy, the defense called Loay Assaf, the imam speaking at the Cambridge mosque during Tamerlan’s outburst. Assaf works for two local non-profits as the director of operations and spends his spare time speaking at local mosques.

Assaf was speaking about trying to connect with other religions and customs during a service when Tamerlan stood up in the back of the mosque and shouted that Assaf was wrong and what he was saying was “not Islam.”

“He was just repeating the same thing, the objection … he didn’t add anything … he was more emotional than rational in the conversation,” Assaf remembered talking to Tamerlan after the service.

The second outburst at the mosque was in January 2013, when Assaf was comparing the prophet Mohammad to King and other “great people” from the past, he said. Tamerlan was outraged by Assaf’s comparisons using the prophet, and again protested.

“He was fired up, very hot. You could see his face tomato red … you could see his stance was a fighting stance,” Assaf said.

That was the last time Assaf saw Tamerlan. He said he had not seen Dzhokhar until Monday in the courtroom.

Abderrazak Razak, was called to the stand next, along with an Arabic interpreter. Originally from Morocco, Razak has lived in Cambridge for six years and works at the Al Bara market in Cambridge.

Razak recalled the market was selling halal turkeys for Thanksgiving in 2012. When Tamerlan saw a sign advertising the turkeys, Razak said, he began to yell and kept saying it was not right.

Tamerlan said Thanksgiving isn’t a Muslim holiday and the store shouldn’t be selling the turkeys, Razak said.

The defense next called Robert Barnes, Dzhokhar’s former schoolmate and teammate on the soccer team. He would have preferred to not testify, he said, sounding frustrated.

Barnes described Dzhokhar as an acquaintance.

“He’s a big guy,” Barnes said of Tamerlan. “Pretty tall in stature … he was pretty outgoing I would say, pretty personable, would joke often.”

Barnes said Dzhokhar was “less outgoing … more reserved” and never really hung out with him.

In December 2012, Tamerlan looked different than he normally did, Barnes said. Tamerlan was wearing “longer garments … a robe” and had a beard for the first time since Barnes had known him.

Barnes remembered Tamerlan talking frequently about his religion and American foreign policy and being very critical of everything he talked about.

The defense then called computer forensics expert Gerald Grant Jr., who examined 21 email correspondences between the Tsarnaev brothers.

“Ignorance still dominates, but not for too long … those who help Allah’s cause, Allah will help them,” Tamerlan wrote in one email in 2012.

Grant said during the two years leading up to the Marathon bombings, Tamerlan sent numerous videos by Islamic extremists to his younger brother from playlists entitled “Islam” and “Terrorism,” urging him to “watch and share.”

Following a one-hour recess for lunch, the defense called the mother of Katherine Russell, Tamerlan’s widow. Russell’s mother, Judith, said her daughter dropped out of Suffolk University at the end of her junior year, after she became pregnant with her daughter.

Tamerlan and Katie, as she is called by family and friends, wed shortly thereafter, in a ceremony Judith said she did not attend.

Judith told defense attorney Judy Clarke that her daughter grew increasingly devout in the months preceding the marriage, and said the first time she saw Katie in a hijab was the day she broke the news of her pregnancy.

“I wasn’t against her adopting Islam because there’s nothing wrong with Islam … but I was concerned with the whole package that came with it,” she said, referring to her son-in-law.

Though Judith said she was “in touch and supportive” of Katie after the birth of her granddaughter, the young mother became isolated from activities she enjoyed such as sports, music, jazz club and ballet.

Judith was at her job at a local primary school, where she worked as a registered nurse, when she heard the news of the Marathon bombings over the radio, and she immediately texted her daughter, who was in Allston at the time of the attack, to make sure she was safe.

But five days later, on April 20, 2013, Judith was awoken by her other daughter wailing outside her bedroom — rumors of Tamerlan’s death had reached the Rhode Island household.

Two years later, Katie is slowly becoming the person she used to be, Judith said.

“She is healing from this experience. It hasn’t been as hard as all the other victims in Boston,” Judith said. “But she’s getting her life together, and she’s lighter in spirit and more like the Katie we knew.”

The defense’s next witness painted a similar picture of Katie’s religious indoctrination and increasing isolation over the course of her relationship with Tamerlan.

Katie’s long-time best friend, Gina Crawford, told defense attorneys that when Tamerlan returned from Dagestan, Russia, Katie become even more “intense” about Islam, revolving conversations around the topic to a concerning degree.

“It [Islam] became mostly what we talked about, and I thought, ‘There was more to life than that,’” Crawford said.

Katie wrote in a text message that compared to the bombings, “a lot more people are killed every day in Syria and other places … Innocent people.”

The day’s final witness, Robert Ponte, Tamerlan’s 11th grade jazz ensemble instructor at Cambridge Rindge High School, said the eldest Tsarnaev brother was passionate about music, but failed to engage with his peers.

Ending the day’s proceedings, the prosecution crossed, clarifying that Ponte was, in sum, saying that he was Tamerlan’s teacher nine years ago and that he wasn’t a good student.

Ponte confirmed, ending the prosecution’s questions.