2.Philip Christiana — Direct
225 lines(Discussion at sidebar and out of the hearing of the jury:)
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: So this witness is the special agent who went to the apartment of the defendant's friends and acquired the defendant's laptop and a cell phone. He's testified to this a couple of times. We've provided a transcript of his prior testimony, and he is going to be a very brief witness, and I thought a non-controversial witness. The defense has raised an issue that they're not sure what --
MS. CONRAD: No, that's not what I said. I would like to speak for myself, thank you.
The issue is that I don't have that transcript handy at the moment because Mr. Chakravarty said we might squeeze this witness in at the end of the day, so when I was in the office this morning I asked someone to pull that for me. So that's still a work in process. I think I probably have the transcript on my laptop.
THE COURT: All right. So if we take a break you'll have them?
MS. CONRAD: Yes. I don't know how long, but it's appreciated.
THE COURT: All right. We will take the morning recess at this point.
COURT CLERK: All rise for the Court and the jury. The Court will take the morning recess.
(The Court and jury exit the courtroom and there is a recess in the proceedings at 10:48 a.m.)
(The Court entered the courtroom at 11:18 a.m.)
MR. WEINREB: Your Honor, before we begin, just as a housekeeping matter, there were three items that were identified by the previous witness that were not formally offered into evidence. They're 986, the lighter; 1020, pencil; and 1027, which was identified as a cap. The government offers them now.
MR. WATKINS: There was no objection.
THE COURT: Okay. Those are admitted.
(Government Exhibit No. 986 received into evidence.)
(Government Exhibit No. 1020 received into evidence.)
(Government Exhibit No. 1027 received into evidence.)
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Thank you, your Honor. The government calls Special Agent Phil Christiana.
PHILIP CHRISTIANA, Sworn
COURT CLERK: Have a seat. State your name. Spell your last name for the record. Keep your voice up and speak into the mic.
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: It's Philip Christiana, C-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n-a; Philip with one L.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. CHAKRAVARTY:
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Good morning.
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Good morning.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Are you a special agent with the FBI?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I am.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: How long have you been a special agent?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Twenty-three years.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Did you have many different roles over that time?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I have.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: What is your current assignment?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I'm assigned to the Boston division in the New -- Bedford, New Hampshire, resident agency.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Back in 2013, what was your assignment?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I was assigned the same place at the time.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Is there a resident agency or a smaller satellite office down in New Bedford?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: It is. It's Bedford, New Hampshire.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Bedford, New Hampshire, I'm sorry. Do you have any special skills as a special agent?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I do; I do.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: What are those?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I'm a special agent bomb technician also.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Do you know Special Agent Brian Corcoran who just testified?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I do.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: One of your colleagues?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Yes.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Did you participate in the Boston Marathon Investigation?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I did.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Did you respond on April 15, 2013?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I did.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Where did you go then?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: To Boylston Street.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Then later that week, did you have additional duties?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I did.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And then on that Thursday and the Friday, April 18th and April 19th, 2013, I'm going to ask you what you did on those days.
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: On Thursday, the 18th, I was -- I spent the majority of the workday on Boylston Street helping process the scene. Thursday night, I was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, helping out with an operation there. And then Friday, I was dispatched to New Bedford, Massachusetts.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Okay. Where were you going in New Bedford, Massachusetts?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I was going to 69A Carriage Drive.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: What was at 69A Carriage Drive?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: It was an apartment associated with associates of the defendant.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: At what point did you realize that this was a location of interest?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: That morning. Myself and Special Agent Dave Scott were basically assigned to go down there. We were told, you know, that it was -- that this apartment was associated with the associates of the defendant.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: When you got down to 69A Carriage Drive in New Bedford, were there other teams that were staging or in the area?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: We arrived down there -- not initially. We did interact with one other special agent there. It was, like, early afternoon when we arrived. We were apparently down there very early. So we were there. We engaged this one agent. We were there for a very short time period. We were told to stay off of the residence. And then we returned there several hours later.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And this is on Friday, April 19th?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Correct.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Do you know whose residence that was?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Yes, I do.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Who was that?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov. I'm going to mess up the last name.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And those were friends of the defendant?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Correct.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And what was your specific task down there?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: The reason we were sent there, Special Agent Scott and myself, we were sent there to assist the Hostage Rescue Team as bomb technicians. That was the intention of us being there.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: What kind of duties would that entail as a bomb technician?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Essentially, after the Hostage Rescue Team cleared the apartment for people, then we were to assist in sweeping the residence, the apartment, for any hazards, any potential hazards.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And at the time that you -- that the apartment was swept by the Hostage Rescue Team, had the defendant been located?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: The defendant was not -- no, he was not.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Did the Hostage Rescue Team go in?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: They did. My understanding is that they went in, and they removed three individuals from the apartment.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Did that -- did you arrive during that process?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I arrived on the tail end of it. I actually saw the last person being removed from the apartment, and then I did what I needed to do.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: What was that?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Well, initially engage the Hostage Rescue Team to see what they saw in there as potential hazards and to see to what extent they swept the apartment for things other than people and then to go in and physically do a sweep for hazards, myself and Special Agent Scott.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: For the witness, your Honor, I'll call up Exhibit 1252, and there are four photos there.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Do you recognize 1252?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I do; I do.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Can we go to the next page?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And do you recognize this photo?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I do. They're photos that I took, both of them.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And the next page.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Do you recognize that?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I do. I recognize that as the backside of the apartment.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And the next page.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: You recognize that?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: That does not look familiar to me.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Okay. So the first three photographs, are those photographs that you took?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: No, I didn't take the third one. I just recognize the backside of that residence. I took the first two.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: So I'd -- are they fair and accurate depictions of what the residence looked like on April 19, 2013, when you went in?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Absolutely, the first two.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: I move in evidence Exhibits 1252-1 through 3.
MS. CONRAD: No objection.
THE COURT: Okay.
(Government Exhibit Nos. 1252-1, 1252-2, 1252-3 received into evidence.)
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Can we go to 3, please? I'd ask to publish, your Honor.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Is that the apartment, 69A Carriage Drive, New Bedford?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I believe so. I'm -- I recognize it, but I really didn't have that vantage point. So that photo, I can't say definitely is the apartment.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: But it was in that vicinity where you entered that day?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: What? I'm sorry.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Is that structure in the vicinity of where you entered?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Okay. But you're just not sure where the entrance is?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Yeah. I'm trying to orient myself on the picture, to be honest with you. I mean, I didn't take that photo. I don't know that vantage point.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Okay. Fair enough. Let's go to the photos you did take.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Let's go to Exhibit 1252-1.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: At some point you entered the apartment, is that right?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I did, correct.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: What does this depict?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: This is -- this is one of the photos that I took. This is standing basically from the -- the entranceway of the apartment, the main entrance, looking into the living area, the common area, of the apartment.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Just inside the door?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Yes. I'm a little deeper than just inside the door, but there's a little -- there's basically a hallway. I'm standing at the end of that hallway, at the edge of that living area.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: When in the day did -- approximately did you take this picture?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I took it -- it was in the evening hours. It was approximately 8, 8 p.m.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Do you know whether the defendant had been located at that point?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I don't believe he was located at that point.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: So sometime in the evening?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Excuse me?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: It was sometime in the evening of April 19th?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: He was, yes, absolutely he was, that evening.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: When -- were there other individuals in this room who had been brought out before you got in?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: The residents.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Aside from Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, who was the other resident who was taken out? If you don't know, just say you don't know.
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I don't know.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Let's go to 1252-2.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: What is that?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: That's a picture of the dining area of the apartment.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Is this how it appeared when you went in?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: It is.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Again, is this in the evening of April 19th?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Correct.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Can you describe what we see on the table?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: It's a table. There's a laptop computer on the table just below that red and blue baseball cap.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Can you just point to the laptop computer on the screen in front of you and tap it?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: (Witness complies.)
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And you just identified what appears to be a black shiny flat object in the middle of the table?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Correct.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: What else was on there?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: There's -- I mean, the baseball cap, an ashtray. There's a -- looks like a drink bottle, some flowers.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Did you do anything with that laptop computer?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I seized it.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: What did you do after you seized it?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I documented the seizure and then turned it over to another special agent to be brought up to Boston and entered into evidence.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: What happens when you seize computers as evidence?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: They're imaged and processed.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Is that so you can see the content of the computer?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Correct.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Is there a special team of agents that does that?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Absolutely.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: This particular computer, do you know whether it later got the identifying number called 1R6?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I do, yes.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: In addition to the computer, did you seize any phones from that apartment?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I did.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Particularly, did you seize the phone of Dias Kadyrbayev?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I did.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: If I may approach, your Honor?
THE COURT: You may.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: I'm handing you what's been marked as Government's Exhibit 1558. Have you opened that bag before?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I have, just approximately an hour ago.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: What's inside that bag?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: It's an iPhone 4s that I seized and documented.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: At the risk of indulging your patience, Agent Christiana, can I ask you to open that again?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Sure, sure. I can try. All right.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Agent Christiana, do you recognize that?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I do.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Is that, in fact, the phone you seized from Dias Kadyrbayev?
MS. CONRAD: Objection. Seized from Dias Kadyrbayev? I don't know that that's --
THE COURT: Rephrase it.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Where did you seize that phone from?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I seized it from 69A Carriage Drive.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Where in the apartment, do you remember?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: That came out of the bedroom, one of the two bedrooms.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: One of the two bedrooms. Was there another phone seized?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: There were two other phones seized.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Where were those phones?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: One phone was in the same bedroom as this phone, and there was another phone in the second bedroom.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Were there personal belongings identifying the resident of that room?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: There were items that indicated the residents of the room, absolutely, there were.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: The one you have in front of you, whose room was that?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: It was associated with the room we believed to be Dias'.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Now, did you lawfully seize that phone?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Absolutely.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And with regard to the laptop computer that we just mentioned, the 1R6, was a search warrant later obtained for that computer?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: That's my understanding, yes.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Now, you had mentioned that the HRT, or the Hostage Rescue Team, had gone in?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Correct.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: And caught you unawares with regard to who the third person was who had come out of the house. But what is the job of the Hostage Rescue Team?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: They're a counterterrorism, a tactical team, full-time counterterrorism team.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Were there any hostages in that apartment at that time?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: There were not.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: They do a variety of things. Is it like a SWAT team?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Yeah, exactly.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Is there -- on what I've shown you as 1558, is there an FBI identifying number on that?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I'm -- on the package or the phone?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: On either.
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Well, the bag is clearly an FBI bag that I actually completed myself when I seized the phone.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Was that later identified as 1W -- sorry, 1R3A?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Yes, yes, yes, it was.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: If I may approach again, your Honor?
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Showing you what's been marked as Government's Exhibit 1534, do you recognize that?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I do.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: What is that?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: This is the Sony VAIO laptop that's depicted in the picture on the dining room table.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: So that wasn't in any of the bedrooms?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: It was not.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: That laptop computer, does that have the 1R6 label on it -- on the bag, I should say?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: I know that's your designation. Let me pull it out and see if it's on the laptop still. Actually, it's right on the bag, yes, yup.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: At this point I'd offer just the physical devices, not the data, from both 1534 and 1558.
MS. CONRAD: No objection.
THE COURT: Okay. Under those terms, they're admitted, the physical objects.
(Government Exhibit Nos. 1534 and 1558 received into evidence.)
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Were both of those objects, Agent Christiana, brought back to Boston for processing by those computer technicians?
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: They were.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: That's all I have, your Honor.
MS. CONRAD: I don't have any questions. Thank you very much.
THE COURT: All right, Agent. Thank you. You can step down.
PHILIP CHRISTIANA: Thank you.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Government calls -- sorry. Government calls Supervisory Special Agent Kevin Swindon.
THE COURT: All right.