Todashev Relative Disrupts Tsarnaev Appearance in Federal Court
Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev stood in federal court in Boston yesterday for a brief pretrial hearing, which was punctuated by an interruption in Russian and English from a woman in the gallery.
Several journalists reported she exclaimed “stop killing innocent people’’ in English as she was escorted out for yelling in Russian. The woman identified herself to reporters as a relative of Ibrahim Todashev: a friend of Dzhokhar’s brother who was killed by an FBI agent during an incident that arose from the investigation of a Waltham triple homicide.
Tsarnaev’s appearance today was the first time the now 21-year-old was publicly seen since his arraignment in July 2013, when he still showed injuries from the police stand-off and manhunt that led to his arrest.
The bombing suspect entered the courtroom at 10 a.m. to answer several questions from Judge George O’Toole. Reporters in the courtroom described him as relaxed but more alert than his last appearance, keeping his eyes averted from the crowd of bombing survivors and spectators. They also described him as having overgrown hair and a beard, wearing a black sweater and khakis rather than an orange inmate jumpsuit.
Judge O’Toole asked Tsarnaev if his attorneys had kept him informed about the legal proceedings, to which he quietly said they had. The judge also heard motions disputing whether or not jurors could hear details about the suspect’s family life. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s brother Tamerlan was killed in the police stand-off in the days following the bombings, and allegedly planned the attacks with him. The judge also expressed the need for a large courtroom to accommodate the survivors and their families, and said witness lists will not be unsealed until jurors are called.
Authorities have said Tsarnaev spent most of his jail time in solitary confinement, with limited access to his family and lawyers. He faces 30 charges related to the April 2013 attacks, including using a weapon of mass destruction. While no cameras were allowed in the courtroom to provide photos of his appearance, the court released sketches. The last time Tsarnaev was publicly seen, his arm was in a cast and his face and jaw were swollen from a gunshot wound.
Tsarnaev could receive the death penalty if convicted. Jury selection for the trial is set to begin on January 5.
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