After calling more than 40 witnesses, the defense rested Monday in the penalty phase of the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
The prosecution then called two more witnesses and after almost 60 days of testimony, it was over.
The defense wrapped up this morning with its final witness, Sister Helen Prejean, an anti-death penalty advocate who became famous through the movie "Dead Man Walking". Prejean, who did the most for the defense's case on the stand, was polished and funny, effectively using her Louisiana twang. She told jurors she met with Tsarnaev five times, including last week. At some point, he said to her, “No one deserves to suffer like they did.” Prejean said he seemed to be sincere.
Once the defense rested, the government called two more prison experts — both to show jurors that life at a supermax prison may not conform to preconceptions — that circumstances for prisoners change and that there’s even a chance an inmate can leave a supermax.
Over the past 10 weeks, the prosecution called some 90 witnesses, many of them victims of the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 260.
They tried to portray Tsarnaev as a ruthless, remorseless terrorist who willingly went along with his older brother Tamerlan’s jihadist extremism. And they had proof that computers found in the home Dzhokhar often shared with his brother were loaded with violent propaganda.
The defense, meanwhile, slowly chipped away at that image, offering up witnesses who said in the Chechen culture, the younger males in the family must obey the older ones — and they offered up witnesses who said Tamerlan was by nature combative and was emotionally abusive to his wife.
Then, after a brief morning recess, it was suddenly over. The judge is giving both sides time today to prepare for closing arguments, which will take place Wednesday.
