Court records filed by the defense lawyers of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzokhar Tsarnaev claimed that the defendant was close to dying from the numerous gunshot wounds he sustained from the police manhunt. Moreover, the records indicate that Tsarnaev was interrogated for 36 hours twenty hours after he received emergency surgery and narcotics to dull the extensive pain from the gunshot wounds. The court records indicated that Tsarnaev's condition worsened from the time he arrived at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on April 19 last year thanks to the wounds to the head, face, throat, jaw, hands and legs.
The records were filed by Tsarnaev's attorneys to argue in court that the defendant's constitutional rights were violated. The lawyers insisted that Tsarnaev's statements taken from the interrogation should be suppressed as their client was in obvious distress and that requests for a lawyer were not addressed during the interrogation process.
The court documents that the Federal Bureau of Investigation started questioning the suspect on April 20 at 7:22PM and ended at 9AM on April 22 and that the interrogation allegedly went on and off. The defense attorneys also described Tsarnaev's condition that anyone would think that he is incapable of as much as sitting through a 36-hour questioning.
As Tsarnaev was on prescribed powerful pain medication, his vision impaired due to a sutured left eye, jaw wired closed and had difficulty hearing, his lawyers said their client did his best to answer questions.
"Mr. Tsarnaev wrote answers to questions in a notebook because he was unable to speak. These notes reflect his attempt to respond to urgent questions (he assured the agents that no public safety threat remained) as well as his poor functioning and limited cognitive ability. In all, he wrote the word ‘lawyer' ten times, sometimes circling it, but (FBI agents turned away lawyers who tried to meet with him). One of the agents insisted, nonsensically, that Mr. Tsarnaev was not in custody."
ABC News said Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to several terrorism-related charges in relation to the April 15 bombings near the finish line of the iconic Boston Marathon. As the charges merit the death penalty if Tsarnaev gets convicted, his defense attorneys have also filed a separate motion to asked the judge to deem the death penalty unconstitutional.
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