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Tsarnaev’s lawyers try to show brother in charge of bombing

FILE - In this March 5, 2015 file courtroom sketch, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, center, is depicted between defense attorneys Miriam Conrad, left, and Judy Clarke, right, during his federal death penalty trial in Boston. Prosecutors rested their case against Tsarnaev on Monday, March 30, 2015, after jurors saw gruesome autopsy photos and heard a medical examiner describe the devastating injuries suffered by the three people who died in the 2013 terror attack. (AP Photo/Jane Flavell Collins, File)
FILE - In this March 5, 2015 file courtroom sketch, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, center, is depicted between defense attorneys Miriam Conrad, left, and Judy Clarke, right, during his federal death penalty trial in Boston. Prosecutors rested their case against Tsarnaev on Monday, March 30, 2015, after jurors saw gruesome autopsy photos and heard a medical examiner describe the devastating injuries suffered by the three people who died in the 2013 terror attack. (AP Photo/Jane Flavell Collins, File) FILE - In this March 5, 2015 file courtroom sketch, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, center, is depicted between defense attorneys Miriam Conrad, left, and Judy Clarke, right, during his federal death penalty trial in Boston. Prosecutors rested their case against Tsarnaev on Monday, March 30, 2015, after jurors saw gruesome autopsy photos and heard a medical examiner describe the devastating injuries suffered by the three people who died in the 2013 terror attack. (AP Photo/Jane Flavell Collins, File)

By Associated Press 2 min read

BOSTON (AP) – Lawyers for Boston Marathon bomber Dzkhokar Tsarnaev started their case by trying to show that his older brother was the driving force behind the 2013 terror attack.

The defense called one of its first witnesses on Monday. A cell site analyst testified that Tsarnaev’s cell phone was being used in southeastern Massachusetts – where he was attending the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth – while pressure cookers were being purchased north of Boston in Saugus 2 1/2 months before the bombing. The analyst also said large quantities of BBs were purchased a little over a month before the attack in two Wal-Mart stores in New Hampshire, at a time when Tsarnaev’s cell phone was again being used near the university.

Twin bombs filled with BBs and shrapnel exploded near the marathon’s finish line on April 15, 2013. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured.

Prosecutors rested their case Monday after jurors saw gruesome autopsy photos and heard testimony from a medical examiner about the blast injuries that killed 8-year-old Martin Richard.

At least three jurors cried and wiped their eyes with tissues as they looked at photos of the boy. His parents watched somberly from the second row of the courtroom.