Liz Norden

Liz Norden read a prepared, unsworn victim-impact statement at sentencing on Day 67. Speaking as the mother of JP and Paul Norden, she described how each son lost his right leg in the second Marathon explosion and how their injuries continued to affect the family.

Norden recalled Paul's urgent telephone call from the street and her initial uncertainty about where her sons were and whether they were alive. She described their treatment at separate hospitals, repeated emergency surgeries, extensive burns, permanent hearing loss, and nerve damage. She said they had undergone more than 50 surgeries combined and continued to face medical needs. Dividing her time between two severely injured sons, she explained, left her with continuing guilt about being unable to be with each when he needed her.

Her statement also emphasized her sons' determination to adapt and not let the bombing define their lives. She thanked responders, friends, and strangers for their support while describing her continuing worry about her sons' safety and daily use of prostheses. Norden said she had attended most of the trial seeking to understand the attack, and that seeing courtroom video of her sons' injuries had left painful memories.