Nathan Harman

Nathan Harman testified for the prosecution on Day 31 and identified Tsarnaev as the man he saw leaning into an MIT police cruiser on April 18, 2013. An MIT mathematics graduate student, Harman said he left his office after ten, perhaps around 10:20 p.m., and bicycled through a well-lit courtyard. He passed within five or six feet of the open driver's door and made eye contact when the man stood up and turned toward him.

Harman said he saw one person and continued riding, initially thinking he had merely startled the man. His testimony connected Tsarnaev to the cruiser's open door, not to an observed shooting. After the court admitted courtyard video as Exhibit 725, Harman identified himself as the cyclist shown in it.

During comparisons with photographs, Harman found the sweatshirt consistent with his recollection but could not identify its front design. He remembered a different, knit-style hat. Exhibit 820 showed the type of cap he recalled, but he could not identify a pattern or logo; the prosecution did not offer that exhibit at the time. The defense declined to question him.

In closing argument, defense counsel used Harman's observation of one person to argue that Tamerlan was crouched near the cruiser trying to obtain Officer Collier's gun. In rebuttal, the prosecution argued that Harman's account supported Tsarnaev's participation, while acknowledging that it did not know who fired the shots. Those interpretations were counsel's arguments, not additional observations by Harman.