Boston Bombing Trial Starts With Defense Lawyer Admitting ‘It Was Him’

Updated: March 4, 2015 2:06 PM [ET] | Originally published: March 4, 2015 7:26 AM EST;

BOSTON — Nearly two years after twin blasts rocked the finish line of the Boston Marathon, alleged bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appeared before a jury Wednesday as a federal prosecutor accused him of believing he was “a soldier in a holy war against Americans” and Tsarnaev’s defense lawyer admitted that “it was him” in surveillance videos dropping a bomb-laden backpack on crowded Boylston Street.

In opening statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Weinreb painted a detailed picture of the moments before the April 15, 2013 attack, with thousands gathered along the race sidelines as a Boston Red Sox game let out. Weinreb also presented a portrait of Tsarnaev as a duplicitous character who kept his violent tendencies secret from his closest friends and mingled among race’s spectators…

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