Catheryn Charner-Laird

Catheryn Charner-Laird testified for the defense on Day 55 about teaching Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at Cambridgeport School during 2002–2003. By the time of trial, she was the school's principal. Under Miriam Conrad's questioning, she described a newcomer learning English who worked hard, presented no discipline problems, and developed friendships partly through soccer. She considered his English very proficient by year's end, though not necessarily fluent.

Her academic assessment included qualifications. She thought his math skills were probably above grade level but found his English skills harder to assess. She remembered his parents requesting grade advancement during a conference, without recalling its specifics, and expressed no opinion on advancing him. A document shown only to her refreshed her recollection that he was nine in fall 2002.

On cross-examination, Charner-Laird confirmed that Tsarnaev had been her third-grade student and that she considered him disciplined and smart. Her testimony supplied firsthand classroom observations for the defense's account of his childhood conduct and adjustment to school. The court then allowed her to step down.