Rogerio Franca

Rogerio Franca testified for the defense on Day 54 about Tamerlan Tsarnaev's visits to his Harding Street home. He described marijuana smoking that continued despite his complaint and an occasion when Tamerlan and others appeared to weigh and divide drugs in his bedroom. He did not know whether a drug purchase was occurring, and he was uncertain about dates and the length of his residence.

Franca distinguished those visits from his limited contact with Dzhokhar, whom he called Jahar. He said Jahar twice knocked at his door looking for Tamerlan but never entered the home. Franca also recalled a final encounter with Tamerlan and Katherine on Boylston Street, when Tamerlan unexpectedly asked whether Franca had become Muslim. Franca said they exchanged phone numbers, but he never called Tamerlan afterward.

On cross-examination, William Weinreb asked how that encounter ended. Franca confirmed that Tamerlan walked away while Franca returned to his client and that they went their separate ways. Weinreb ended his questioning, and Franca was excused.