The accused Boston Marathon bombing suspect is due in court Wednesday afternoon and will be greeted in the courtroom by victims and their families, as well as a sprinkling of supporters who say he is wrongfully accused.
Lacey Buckley wore a ‘Free the Lion July 10’ t-shirt and travelled from Washington state to hear evidence against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Karina Figuerie travelled from New York City and told reporters that surveillance footage of Tsarnaev carrying a backpack at the finish line on April 15, is not conclusive evidence of guilt.
Tsarnaev has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction in the bombings that killed three people and wounded more than 260.
The federal courthouse is expected to be jammed for 19-year-old’s appearance. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office said space is being reserved in the main courtroom for victims' families, but she wouldn't indicate how many planned to attend. Court officials have set aside an overflow courtroom to broadcast the hearing for the media.
Police presence was heavy hours before the arraignment. By 7:30 a.m., a dozen Federal Protective Service officers and bomb-sniffing dogs surrounded the courthouse.
Tsarnaev has yet to appear publicly since his April 19 arrest. His initial court appearance took place at a hospital, where he was recovering from injuries suffered in a shootout with police the day before in the Boston suburb of Watertown.
Authorities say he had escaped in a hijacked car after running over his brother and alleged co-conspirator, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died following the shootout with police. But he was found the next day after a lockdown in Watertown was lifted and a local homeowner noticed blood on the dry-docked boat.
Tsarnaev's arrest stunned those who knew him as a likable high school athlete in Cambridge, where he lived with his older brother after his parents left for Russia.
His parents were in Makhachkala, in the southern Russian province of Dagestan, on Wednesday. His mother declined to comment.
Prosecutors say Tsarnaev, a Muslim, wrote about his motivations for the bombing on the inside walls and beams of the boat where he was hiding.
He wrote the U.S. government was "killing our innocent civilians."
"I don't like killing innocent people," he said, but also wrote: "I can't stand to see such evil go unpunished. ... We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all."
The indictment also said that, sometime before the bombings, Tsarnaev downloaded Internet material from Islamic extremists that advocated violence against the perceived enemies of Islam.
Three people - Martin Richard, 8, Krystle Marie Campbell, 29, and Lingzi Lu, 23 - were killed by the bombs, which were improvised from pressure cookers. Authorities say the Tsarnaevs also killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology officer Sean Collier days later while they were on the run.
Numerous bombing victims had legs amputated after the two explosions, which detonated along the final stretch of the race a couple hours after the elite runners had finished.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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