James Eppard

James Eppard testified for the prosecution on Day 31 about the FBI's public release of suspect photographs and surveillance video. A web manager in the FBI's Office of Public Affairs, he described releases coordinated with the April 18 press conference and updated images released on April 19. He reported 12 million views of the page containing the video within 24 hours, more than 4 million views associated with the photo montage, and an enormous number of public tips. Those audience figures did not establish that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev viewed the material.

During his direct examination, Exhibits 1507, 1508 and 1510 were admitted without objection and shown to the jury. At sidebar, David Bruck sought removal of an armed-and-dangerous warning from a wanted poster and an earlier admitted display. Aloke Chakravarty withdrew the offer of wanted-poster Exhibit 1439, while the court left the earlier display unredacted.

On cross-examination, Eppard distinguished a television screen grab's shading from the FBI's original release. He confirmed that the FBI video showed both suspects without emphasizing the white-hat individual and that both suspect posters appeared together at the press conference. He could not identify a possible backpack in the shaded image. He recalled the white-hat individual walking behind the black-hat individual, whom he identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but qualified that account as his recollection. He was then excused.