BOSTON (WHDH) — Newly unsealed court papers describe the injuries to surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Tsarnaev’s injuries were far worse than they appeared in photographs from the moment he was captured (pictured above). According to a doctor who treated him, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's injuries included multiple gunshot wounds to the extremities, including one to the face. A bullet also fractured the base of his skull and injured his vertebrae.
Newly unsealed federal court documents, acquired by the Boston Globe, include a transcript of a hearing with the trauma surgeon who treated the 20-year-old suspect the night he was arrested.
The injuries were described by Dr. Stephen Ray Odom in a legal proceeding at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center three days after Tsarnaev was captured hiding in a boat in a backyard. Transcripts of the testimony were unsealed Monday.
“He has multiple gunshot wounds, the most severe of which appears to have entered through the left side of his mouth and exited the left face, lower face,” Odom said.
Odom said Tsarnaev also had wounds to his lower extremities and bone injuries to his left hand.
Federal investigators interviewed Tsarnaev in his hospital room, even though he couldn’t speak. Tsarnaev answered many questions before being read his Miranda Rights, under the “Public Safety Exception”, which circumvents Miranda Rights while there’s a threat to the public.
Tsarnaev reportedly nodded yes or no and wrote down answers, including a confession that he and his older brother, Tamerlan, carried out the attack and acted alone.
According to the unsealed documents, Odom said despite Tsarnaev’s extensive injuries, he “definitely knows where he is” and would be able to answers questions.
Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to the April 15 bombing, which killed three people and injured more than 260.