Day 49 - April 21, 2015

The court addressed evidence disputes before the prosecution began its penalty-phase presentation. It allowed photographs of amputation survivors and permitted an enlarged lockup photograph in opening over defense objections that the still distorted a fleeting gesture. The underlying video could provide context. The court required victim montages to be disassembled into selected individual images, cautioning against cumulative emotional impact, but allowed Lingzi Lu's father's eulogy as-is. A proposed full-scale grate photograph appeared admissible subject to foundation; no actual admission was recorded. The court indicated that bombing-video audio was probably admissible and rejected limiting grave-risk evidence to the instant of the act rather than its consequences. Judge O'Toole instructed jurors to decide separately whether each of 17 capital counts warranted death or life imprisonment without release. Death-eligibility findings required unanimity and proof beyond a reasonable doubt, while individual jurors could find mitigating factors by a preponderance of the evidence. He emphasized qualitative weighing, that death was never required, and that sympathy from victim-impact evidence could not determine the sentence. Nadine Pellegrini then sought a death sentence in the prosecution's opening, previewing victim and survivor testimony and arguing that Tsarnaev's own actions and character, rather than comparison with Tamerlan, should guide sentencing. Celeste Corcoran described losing both legs, lasting hearing loss, continuing discomfort and shooting pains, and her daughter Sydney's injuries, qualifying her medical explanation. Afterward, the defense moved for a mistrial, arguing that survivor-impact testimony exceeded permissible injury evidence. The court found the testimony relevant to statutory aggravating factors and required contemporaneous objections. It agreed with an objection to extended narration and declined a continuing Confrontation Clause objection. No express disposition of the mistrial motion was recorded. Gillian Reny described severe leg injuries, surgeries, tissue grafting and uncertainty about her salvaged leg's function. The bombing video was played with audio with the defense objection preserved; one proposed photograph was admitted and another excluded. Krystle Campbell's brother, William Campbell III, and father, William A. Campbell, Jr., described her work, caregiving, family relationships and their continuing grief, including the hospital's mistaken identification of another patient as Krystle. Nicole Gross described extensive injuries, between ten and 11 surgeries, and treatment complications. She distinguished information learned afterward from her own recollection and testified about her sister's injuries over objection. The defense asked no questions of these five witnesses.