A federal judge in Boston ruled Wednesday that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev may view autopsy photographs of three people who died in the Boston Marathon bombings and indicated that he might ease some of the restrictions on the defendant to allow him unmonitored visits with his family.
Tsarnaev, 20, has been held in federal custody since his arrest last year in the April 15 explosions at the finish line area of the marathon. He faces the death penalty if convicted of 30 counts, including detonating a weapon of mass destruction resulting in deaths.
On Wednesday, lawyers for the defense and prosecution faced off in federal court for the first time in two months to deal with a variety of pending motions. Tsarnaev, whose trial is scheduled to begin in November, was not present.
District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. rejected a government move to prevent Tsarnaev from viewing autopsy pictures of the three people who were killed by the bombs. The government had argued that allowing Tsarnaev to see all the photos would create suffering for the victims and their families.
Defense attorneys had argued that they were the best judges of what the defendant could see and that they had never heard of such a restriction.
