5.Christian Fierabend — Direct (Part 1)
467 linesCHRISTIAN FIERABEND, duly sworn
COURT CLERK: State your name, spell your last name for the record, keep your voice up and speak into the mic.
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Christian Fierabend, F-I-E-R-A-B-E-N-D.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: Good afternoon. Where do you work?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I work for the FBI.
MR. WEINREB: How long have you worked with the FBI?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Approximately nine years.
MR. WEINREB: All that time in Boston?
MR. WEINREB: What's your current job assignment?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I'm assigned to the violent crimes squad.
MR. WEINREB: Are you a special agent?
MR. WEINREB: And have you had all the training that special agents receive at the FBI?
MR. WEINREB: How many investigations have you worked on in your career at the FBI?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Numerous.
MR. WEINREB: Did you participate in the Boston Marathon bombing investigation?
MR. WEINREB: Are you familiar with the types of pressure cookers that were used on Boylston Street and on Laurel Street in Watertown?
MR. WEINREB: What kind were they?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: They were Fagor Elite pressure cookers.
MR. WEINREB: What retail stores sell Fagor Elite pressure cookers?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: They're exclusively sold at Macy's.
MR. WEINREB: What size pressure cookers were used on Boylston Street and on Laurel Street?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Boylston was six quart, and Laurel Street was four quart.
MR. WEINREB: Did the FBI obtain purchase records from Macy's for Fagor Elite pressure cookers as part of their investigation in this case?
MR. WEINREB: For what time period?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: From August of 2012 until April of 2013.
MR. WEINREB: So approximately a seven- or eight-month time period?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Correct.
MR. WEINREB: And for what geographic area did you get the receipts?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: The entire United States.
MR. WEINREB: Approximately how many six-quart Fagor Elite pressure cookers did Macy's sell during that period just in the northeast of the United States?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Approximately 4,000.
MR. WEINREB: And approximately how many four-quart pressure cookers, Fagor Elite pressure cookers, did Macy's sell just in the northeast during that time period?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Seventy-four.
MR. WEINREB: How many of those 74 were purchased -- were paid for in cash?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Five.
MR. WEINREB: How many of those five were purchased in Massachusetts?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Three.
MR. WEINREB: Where in Massachusetts were those three purchased?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Two in Boston, one in Saugus.
MR. WEINREB: So you had the purchase records for those purchases?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Correct.
MR. WEINREB: And did they include the date and time of each purchase?
MR. WEINREB: Now, was a GPS device recovered from a Mercedes abandoned on Spruce Street in Watertown on April 19th, 2013?
MR. WEINREB: What kind of GPS was it?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It was a Garmin nuvi.
MR. WEINREB: And what's a Garmin nuvi?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It's a portable GPS device.
MR. WEINREB: Approximately what size?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Handheld.
MR. WEINREB: So you could move it from car to car?
MR. WEINREB: What was done with that GPS after it was seized from the Mercedes?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: The data was extracted and plotted on a map.
MR. WEINREB: And did you compare that data from the GPS with the dates and times of the three cash purchases of the four-quart Fagor Elite pressure cookers that were sold in Massachusetts?
MR. WEINREB: Can I have Exhibit 1152-06, please, just for the witness.
MR. WEINREB: Do you recognize that?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I do.
MR. WEINREB: What is that?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: The GPS plots.
MR. WEINREB: The government offers 1152-06.
MR. WATKINS: Judge, we don't object to the exhibit but can we be seen at sidebar, please?
THE COURT: Okay.
(Government Exhibit No. 1152-06 received into evidence.)
(Discussion at sidebar and out of the hearing of the jury:)
MR. WATKINS: It says "hijack." No, it doesn't say anything.
(Laughter.)
MR. WATKINS: In caps there it says "hijacked vehicle." We pointed this out to the government a couple of times, that that part should be removed. It's a GPS device; "hijacked vehicle" is --
MR. MELLIN: In the vehicle that was hijacked.
MR. WATKINS: It was found in the vehicle that was hijacked, but it's a very confusing piece of --
THE COURT: Let me take a closer look.
Do you have a paper copy of it?
MR. WEINREB: I don't, but let me just see...
MR. WATKINS: Can you put it back on? Yeah, put it back on on the screen. He just took it down.
THE COURT: Well, I wanted to read the writing. I thought I saw a paper copy earlier.
MR. WEINREB: Can I just inquire, I'm not entirely sure whether the nature of the objection goes to a dispute about whether the Mercedes was actually carjacked by someone or whether it's --
MR. WATKINS: It is both. There's no necessity of putting it in "from hijacked vehicle." It's mostly confusing in that what happened is it was recovered from the Mercedes but it was actually used in other cars, and specifically in the CR-V and the Odyssey. It's going to be terribly confusing to the jury when they --
THE COURT: Who prepared the chart?
MR. WEINREB: Someone at the FBI.
THE COURT: Not this guy?
MR. WEINREB: No.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: Particularly, the witness James Tyra has already authenticated the plots.
MS. CLARKE: And when he did, we talked about changing the word "hijacked" to "Mercedes." I thought Mr. Weinreb agreed to do that, that's why he didn't admit the exhibit at the time, because he was going to change it.
THE COURT: Well, go ahead.
MR. WEINREB: I'm still not sure I understand whether the objection is that it's misleading to say that it was recovered from the Mercedes because of the defense argument that it was used in other cars, or whether the objection is to just the word "highjacked," in which case I'm not sure it's really a well-taken objection because there's no real prejudice to the defense from the idea that the Mercedes was carjacked, the car was abandoned in the middle of Spruce Street. I mean, maybe there's a claim that the accused didn't carjack it, but that's different from saying that the vehicle itself wasn't taken from its owner.
MR. WATKINS: In general terms in a summary exhibit, which is what that is, there shouldn't be those kinds of pejorative terms. Aside from that, it's confusing to the jury to talk about it being recovered from a hijacked vehicle when the testimony is going to be as to these plots it was in a different vehicle.
THE COURT: Well, I think the second part is a more substantial one, the possibility of confusion of the jury. I first thought that this was the Mercedes-Benz's GPS.
MR. WEINREB: That's why I led him through the fact that it's a Garmin nuvi that can be moved from car to car, but this is the vehicle from which it was recovered.
THE COURT: How do you tie -- assuming that the jury understands that it's not the Mercedes car, how do you tie it to the defendant? I mean, can you show what cars it was used in?
MR. WEINREB: No. But there was testimony from Dun Meng that, I believe, that Tamerlan Tsarnaev had a GPS device in his hands that he was programming.
THE COURT: Right. But that's not for this journey.
MR. WEINREB: Frankly, there's no other way to tie it. Frankly, it's a Garmin nuvi GPS that was found in the Mercedes. The truth is that the defense does not want to keep this information out, they want it in, because it tends to show that Tamerlan Tsarnaev is the one who bought the Fagor pressure cookers, so I don't understand their wanting to exclude it at all. Frankly, their goal is to make it as clear as possible that it was Tamerlan Tsarnaev's GPS and I think they're entitled to do that to the extent they can, but they can't -- I don't think they're entitled to preclude the government from identifying it in a factually correct way, which is a device recovered from this car. All the other charts identified the places by what car they were found in.
THE COURT: I don't think there's much doubt on the evidence that the Mercedes was taken from Dun Meng. You can call that "hijacked." So I think it can be used now without anybody calling attention to that and -- but I think it would be better if the jury sees the exhibit finally and has it in the jury room, that it be edited so it doesn't say that. I don't think it's a big issue in this case but it is --
MR. WEINREB: Well, it has to be identified some way. We have identified all the portable GPS devices based on where they were recovered. If it just says "GPS" on it --
THE COURT: No, no, it can say Dun Meng's.
MR. WEINREB: It has nothing to do with Dun Meng.
MS. CLARKE: "Found in the Mercedes."
MR. WEINREB: "Found in the Mercedes"? Okay. That's fine. Okay. Okay.
THE COURT: But for now I think we can just blow it by.
MR. WATKINS: So at least for now where the exhibit is going to go up to the jury, how can we fix it in front of the jury so they're not --
THE COURT: I'm going to tolerate them seeing it now and -- but when they have it more permanently --
MR. WEINREB: I'll ask a couple of questions to try to highlight it and hopefully that will take care of it.
MR. WATKINS: That it was found in other cars.
MR. WEINREB: No, not that.
THE COURT: That it was taken from Dun Meng.
MR. WATKINS: So how does the jury know it was in another car?
MR. WEINREB: That's for the defense to prove, quite frankly. I can't guess it was in other cars. I don't have any evidence of that.
THE COURT: Was it fingerprinted?
MR. WEINREB: There were no fingerprints found on it.
THE COURT: Okay. All right.
MR. WATKINS: Thank you.
(In open court:)
THE COURT: Could we put it up -- let me just take a -- so I suppose it's admitted and I'll now expose it to the jury.
BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: Agent Fierabend, I want to ask you some questions about that data, but before I do, I just want to clarify with you: So this GPS device was recovered from the seat of the Mercedes, correct?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I know it was recovered in the Mercedes. I don't know exactly where in the Mercedes it was recovered.
MR. WEINREB: Okay. But it's not part of the Mercedes? It's not like a built-in GPS device?
MR. WEINREB: It's a portable device that could be plugged into any vehicle?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Correct.
MR. WEINREB: And the data that you recovered doesn't say -- doesn't tell you what vehicle it was in at the time the data was recorded, correct?
MR. WEINREB: All right. So this chart has some numbered boxes on it. Is that correct?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Would you repeat the question?
MR. WEINREB: I'm sorry. This chart has some numbered boxes on it, correct?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Correct.
MR. WEINREB: So, for example, I'm going to highlight the first box. Oh, I guess that's the last box.
MR. WEINREB: Can we shrink that, Mr. Bruemmer?
MR. WEINREB: So this would be a better one to highlight. So could you read that?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: "GPS stops at 8:13 p.m. near 1201 Broadway, Square One Mall, Saugus, Massachusetts. Travel resumes at 8:42 p.m."
MR. WEINREB: That narrative, those words obviously weren't in the GPS, correct?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Correct.
MR. WEINREB: But there was data in the GPS that says, at least to some degree, where it stopped and what time it stopped there?
MR. WEINREB: Could we go back to the whole exhibit?
MR. WEINREB: So what does the data reveal about where the GPS stopped on this particular date, which is January 31st, 2013?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It shows it stopped by the Square One Mall in Saugus at 8:13 p.m. and resumed at 8:42 p.m.
MR. WEINREB: Okay. And then it traveled to some other locations and it winds up back on -- after midnight near 397 Norfolk Street in Cambridge?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: That's correct.
MR. WEINREB: Okay. So let's just return to the 8:13 stop.
MR. WEINREB: And could I have Exhibit 1159 for the witness, please.
MR. WEINREB: All right. Now, this is written in small letters, but did you review this recently?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I did.
MR. WEINREB: And so do you recognize it?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I do.
MR. WEINREB: The information, the purchase information you got from Macy's, what form was it in? Was it a spreadsheet, a PDF?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It was an Excel spreadsheet.
MR. WEINREB: And it had all these purchases sorted by date and time?
MR. WEINREB: So this thing you're looking at here, is this an excerpt?
MR. WEINREB: And is it a fair and accurate excerpt?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I believe so.
MR. WEINREB: The government offers 1159.
MR. WATKINS: No objection.
THE COURT: Okay.
(Government Exhibit No. 1159 received into evidence.)
BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: So now I'm going to try to highlight it, at least the top portion. So I'm going to try to highlight this -- actually, let me get this top part in too. All right. So the leftmost column -- if the letters are too small to read on your screen, just let me know, but what's in the leftmost column?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It's the date.
MR. WEINREB: And what date is this record for?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It's for January 31, 2013.
MR. WEINREB: And what time?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It's 2038, or 8:38 p.m.
MR. WEINREB: And what -- where -- all the way over near the right where it says where these Fagor pressure cookers were purchased, where does it say they were purchased?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Square One.
MR. WEINREB: And the -- they were purchased -- under "associate," that would be the -- like the register who sold them, is it the same person?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I believe the associate is the person and the register is the number. Fifty-one is the register.
MR. WEINREB: The number of the register? And it indicates how many pressure cookers were purchased?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Based on the SKUs, it appears there are two different size pressure cookers.
MR. WEINREB: What sizes?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Our investigation shows that the SKU's were a six-quart pressure cooker and a four-quart pressure cooker.
MR. WEINREB: So one of those three four-quart pressure cookers sold in Massachusetts during the relevant time period were sold on this date and time in Saugus, at the Square One Mall in Saugus, Mass.?
MR. WEINREB: And how does that compare to when that GPS that was found in the Mercedes was at the Square One Mall in Saugus?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I believe the purchase is a few minutes before the GPS starts to move again.
MR. WEINREB: Okay. Does this data tell you what car the GPS was in at the time?
MR. WEINREB: Does it tell you who was driving the car?
MR. WEINREB: Does it tell you who might have been a passenger in the car?
MR. WEINREB: Does it tell you who in the car, if anyone, actually purchased the pressure cooker?
MR. WEINREB: Was there any surveillance video available from that Macy's to help determine who might have actually purchased those pressure cookers?
MR. WEINREB: So you can't be sure who actually purchased them?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Correct. I cannot be sure who actually purchased them.
MR. WEINREB: Could we go back to the full exhibit of 1159?
MR. WEINREB: Now, down in the second part of that exhibit, that shows a purchase on March 17th, 2013?
MR. WEINREB: At what time?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: 1417, or 2:17 p.m.
MR. WEINREB: Based on the SKU number, can you tell what this was a purchase of?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: We know this was a six-quart pressure cooker.
MR. WEINREB: And it was purchased where?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: The Square One.
MR. WEINREB: Okay. Now, is there any GPS data corresponding to that purchase?
MR. WEINREB: So can you say for certain who purchased that pressure cooker?
MR. WEINREB: It's just another six-quart pressure cooker sale from that same mall?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Correct.
MR. WEINREB: Do you even know if that six-quart pressure cooker was one of the ones used on Boylston Street in the bombing?
MR. WEINREB: Were GPS devices also found in a Honda Odyssey that was registered to Jahar Tsarnaev's father, Anzor Tsarnaev?
MR. WEINREB: What types of GPS devices were those?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: They were also handheld GPS devices.
MR. WEINREB: The same kind that can be moved from car to car?
MR. WEINREB: Can I have Exhibit 1152-07, please.
MR. WEINREB: Do you recognize this?
MR. WEINREB: What is it?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It's a map of GPS plots.
MR. WEINREB: From one of those GPS devices?
MR. WEINREB: The government offers 1152-07.
MR. WATKINS: No objection.
(Government Exhibit No. 1152-07 received into evidence.)
BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: What does this map show?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It shows travel into New Hampshire.
MR. WEINREB: And does it show stops at various places?
MR. WEINREB: And various times on March 6th?
MR. WEINREB: And does it also indicate that at least in some cases the stops were near particular stores?
MR. WEINREB: So, for example, looking at Number 5, there was a stop near a Walmart --
MR. WEINREB: -- at approximately 5:59 p.m., and then travel resumed about 14 minutes later?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Correct.
MR. WEINREB: All right. If you could zoom back out.
MR. WEINREB: And that was a Walmart in Hudson, New Hampshire?
MR. WEINREB: And then there was also a stop earlier, in Amherst, New Hampshire, at about 5:12 p.m. Is that right?
MR. WEINREB: All right. Could we go back out?
MR. WEINREB: And earlier a stop near a Walmart in Manchester, New Hampshire, correct?
MR. WEINREB: Did the FBI get receipts from all the Walmart stores corresponding to those locations where there was a Walmart store that matched the dates and times of those stops?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Yes, we got various Walmart receipts.
MR. WEINREB: Can I have Exhibit 1161-02 for the witness.
MR. WEINREB: Is that one of those Walmart receipts?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I'm actually having a hard time reading that.
MR. WEINREB: Yup. Let me enlarge it for you. That didn't help that much. Is there some portion of it you'd like me to enlarge that would make it better?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: If I could find the -- I'm just looking for the name of the Walmart on the receipt. I can't see the name of the Walmart on the receipt.
MR. WEINREB: Okay. There is a --
MR. WEINREB: Can we move back out? And move back out again, please?
MR. WEINREB: Looking at the information on the receipt, does that look familiar to you?
MR. WEINREB: As a receipt you have seen?
MR. WEINREB: And is it familiar to you as a receipt that you obtained from Walmart?
MR. WEINREB: And can we look at 1161-03, please.
MR. WEINREB: And again, does that look to you -- is that familiar to you as a receipt you have seen from a different date and time but also of a purchase from a Walmart?
MR. WEINREB: The government offers 1161-02 and 1163-03.
MR. WATKINS: No objection.
THE COURT: All right.
(Government Exhibit Nos. 1161-02 and 1163-03 received into evidence.)
MR. WEINREB: If we could go back to 1161-02, please.
BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: So what is the date and time of the purchase here?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: The date is March 6, 2013, and the time of the purchase is 1522 and 11 seconds, which is 3:22 p.m. and 11 seconds.
MR. WEINREB: And what was purchased?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: BB ammo.
MR. WEINREB: Do you know, based on the SKU numbers, what size boxes of BBs these were?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: They were 6,000 count copper-head BBs.
MR. WEINREB: Two boxes were purchased?
MR. WEINREB: Paid for in cash?
MR. WEINREB: So -- and looking at the -- comparing that to the data on the GPS plot, does that correspond to one of the stops made by the GPS device on that date?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Can you pull up the work product for the map?
MR. WEINREB: Yes. That's 1152-07.
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Yes, it does.
MR. WEINREB: Okay. Which one?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Number 2, the one you're highlighting.
MR. WEINREB: So that's approximately -- corresponds approximately to that stop?
MR. WEINREB: And then can we go back to 1161-03, please.
MR. WEINREB: What is this a purchase of?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: BB ammo.
MR. WEINREB: Same size boxes?
MR. WEINREB: And the date and time?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: March 6, 2013, 17:34:06, which is 5:34 p.m. and six seconds.
MR. WEINREB: And does that correspond to one of the stops that the GPS made on that day?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Can you pull the map back up?
MR. WEINREB: Uh-huh.
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It corresponds to Number 4.
MR. WEINREB: And that's in Hudson, New Hampshire?
MR. WEINREB: No? I highlighted the wrong one. Here we go.
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Amherst, New Hampshire. Yes, it does.
MR. WEINREB: Did you go to those stores?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I did not.
MR. WEINREB: Okay. Did somebody involved in this investigation?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I know that the records were produced from those stores. I'm not sure exactly who took a drive to New Hampshire to go to those stores.
MR. WEINREB: That's fine. Was it possible to obtain surveillance video of those purchases?
MR. WEINREB: So once again, does this data tell you what car the GPS was in at the time that it traveled to the stores?
MR. WEINREB: Does it tell you who was driving that car?
MR. WEINREB: Does it tell you who might have been a passenger in the car?
MR. WEINREB: Does it tell you who in the car actually purchased the BBs?
MR. WEINREB: Or whether it was only one person or more than one person making the purchase?
MR. WEINREB: Did the FBI obtain receipts from an online retailer called NitroRCX.com?
MR. WEINREB: What does that retailer sell?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Radio-controlled cars.
MR. WEINREB: What's a radio-controlled car?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It's a car that moves with a remote control.
MR. WEINREB: Okay. So "radio" doesn't -- it's not the kind of radio you listen to?
MR. WEINREB: And the remote control, is that something you hold in your hand?
MR. WEINREB: And there's something in the car that -- and there are radio waves that go from the transmitter to the receiver?
MR. WEINREB: Can I have Exhibit 1160, please. Let's have 1160-02.
MR. WEINREB: Do you recognize that?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I do.
MR. WEINREB: What is it?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It's an invoice from NitroRCX.
MR. WEINREB: The government offers 1160-02.
MR. WATKINS: I have no objection.
(Government Exhibit No. 1160-02 received into evidence.)
BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: I'm going to highlight parts of this and ask you to read them. So first of all, what's the date of the purchase?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: The date is Friday, February 18, 2013, and the time of 1920 and 30 seconds.
MR. WEINREB: You said 18th.
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I'm sorry. February 8th.
MR. WEINREB: And the ship-to address, can you read that?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: The ship-to is 410 Norfolk Street, Number 3, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139.
MR. WEINREB: And who is the person it's being shipped to?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
MR. WEINREB: And the bill-to address is the same?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Correct.
MR. WEINREB: And the email associated with that, is that one you recognize as being an email address associated with Tamerlan Tsarnaev?
MR. WEINREB: And it was paid for with a Visa card?
MR. WEINREB: Can you move back out?
MR. WEINREB: And what exactly was purchased?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It was one Exceed Rally Monster RTR, off-road Rally truck in blue, an 8-pack of AA 220 NiMH rechargeable batteries, FS-GT3B digital transmitter-receiver, and an extra FS-GT3 channel receiver.
MR. WEINREB: All right. Can we move back out?
MR. WEINREB: And is this a comment the person using the website can leave about their purchase?
MR. WEINREB: And what did the purchaser say?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It says, "You have a good website but a lot of your stuff is out of stock. It's a little bit sad. Well, I'm just going to enjoy with what you have got, I guess."
MR. WEINREB: Can you go back out.
MR. WEINREB: Did the FBI also obtain receipts from Amazon.com?
MR. WEINREB: And on April 4th, 2013, did someone using Tamerlan Tsarnaev's Amazon.com account make a purchase?
MR. WEINREB: What was purchased?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It was one Duratrax electronic speed controller, a Tamiya banana plug, and Tenergy batteries.
MR. WEINREB: Are those all items associated with radio-controlled cars?
MR. WEINREB: Was a receipt found during the search of the 410 Norfolk Street residence?
MR. WEINREB: Can I have Exhibit 1431 for the witness, please.
MR. WEINREB: Do you recognize that receipt?
MR. WEINREB: Is that the one that was found there?
MR. WEINREB: The government offers 1431.
MR. WATKINS: No objection but just --
(Counsel confer off the record.)
MR. WEINREB: Let's just move on, and I may return to one question in a bit.
MR. WATKINS: There will be no objection.
THE COURT: So it may?
MR. WEINREB: Yes.
Your Honor, may I have a moment?
(Pause.)
(Government Exhibit No. 1431 received into evidence.)
BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: I think I misled you before with one of my questions. This particular receipt, was this one found in a Honda CR-V registered to Tamerlan Tsarnaev?
MR. WEINREB: All right. My mistake. I apologize.
So I'm going to enlarge this and ask you, first of all, who is the -- what's the store?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: It's RC Cars of Boston.
MR. WEINREB: Do you know what they sell there?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Radio-controlled cars.
MR. WEINREB: And who is the bill-to name?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
MR. WEINREB: Based on the item number, do you know what this was for?
MR. WEINREB: What was it for?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: A Spectrum transmitter and receiver.
MR. WEINREB: And is that another one of these transmitter-receivers that are used in radio-controlled cars?
MR. WEINREB: Were several receipts found in Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wallet after his arrest?
MR. WEINREB: This was a wallet found in the back of a car?
MR. WEINREB: May I have Exhibit 882 for the witness, please? Now, I believe this may already be in evidence under another number, but...
So I think it will be more convenient if we use the previously marked number. So let's have it as 948-576. I don't think that is going to be more convenient, so let's go back to -- this is too blurry to be read. Okay. We could do it as this: 948-575.
MR. WEINREB: So this isn't the entire receipt, it's just the top half, but do you recognize it?
MR. WEINREB: And is that the receipt that was found in the wallet?
MR. WEINREB: Or one of the receipts? Okay.
So what does it indicate that -- first of all, where does it indicate that this purchase was made?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Watertown.
MR. WEINREB: On what date?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: April 14th of 2013.
MR. WEINREB: And that was the day before the Boston Marathon?
MR. WEINREB: What was purchased?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Two backpacks.
MR. WEINREB: Based on the numbers, do you know what kinds of backpacks those were?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: I note two backpacks were purchased, one Ful and one JanSport.
MR. WEINREB: So Ful is F-U-L?
CHRISTIAN FIERABEND: Correct.
MR. WEINREB: Were the remains of a Ful backpack recovered from what was called Scene A on Boylston Street, the site of the Marathon Sports explosion?
MR. WEINREB: And was a JanSport backpack later recovered from the Laurel Street crime scene?
MR. WEINREB: Was there also a receipt in that wallet for a shoulder holster?
MR. WEINREB: One purchased on April 11, 2013?
MR. WEINREB: Was Tamerlan Tsarnaev wearing a holster when he was arrested?
MR. WATKINS: Your Honor, I'm going to object. Can we be seen at sidebar?
THE COURT: No, I'll sustain the objection.
BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: Do you know if Tamerlan Tsarnaev was wearing a holster?
MR. WATKINS: I'm going to object again.
THE COURT: Sustained.
BY MR. WEINREB:
MR. WEINREB: Was a shoulder holster --
MR. WATKINS: I'm going to object. If we could be seen at sidebar?
THE COURT: All right.
(Discussion at sidebar and out of the hearing of the jury:)
MR. WATKINS: So the actual receipt does not identify the item purchased as being a holster. We've agreed to a certain amount of hearsay through this witness. I did not understand that this receipt was going to be one of the things offered by the government here. I would object to that part of the hearsay for this particular witness.
MR. WEINREB: Your Honor, it was my understanding that everything coming in through this -- everything coming in through this witness is hearsay, and the parties had an agreement that they were going to allow it. Frankly, I thought we were putting it in for the benefit of the defense who wanted it in. This is a somewhat unusual situation.
THE COURT: What's the significance of the holster? This is the first ever I heard about the holster.
MR. WEINREB: I thought the defense wanted it into evidence.
THE COURT: Does it have any other role in the case?
MR. WATKINS: No, it doesn't. Just to be clear, these were originally going to go in as defense exhibits, and that's why we're trying to cast it around up here. If I knew Mr. Weinreb was going to do it, I would have raised it.
MR. CHAKRAVARTY: For the record, the holster was not, in fact, found. He may have personal knowledge as to that but it's irrelevant.
THE COURT: Okay. So no holster.
MR. WEINREB: Okay.
MR. WATKINS: I guess I'd like an instruction to the jury they disregard any mention of a holster.
MR. WEINREB: It's fine by me.
THE COURT: Don't you think of a pink elephant?
MR. WEINREB: I think we can just move on.
THE COURT: It always emphasizes it. Do you want me to say it or not? I can say questions that are not --
MS. CLARKE: Disregard the question.
THE COURT: I can say that questions that are not answered produce no evidence. Is that okay?
(In open court:)
THE COURT: All right. We'll move on.
Let me just remind the jurors that questions that are not answered produce no evidence.
MR. WEINREB: Thank you, Agent Fierabend. I have no further questions at this time.