Lawyers for alleged Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev quickly wrapped up their defense case on today as the four-week old trial entered its final stages.
Attorneys for Tsarnaev, who faces the death penalty if convicted of the April 2013 Boston Marathon attack that killed three people and wounded 264, called only four witnesses after prosecutors wrapped their case yesterday.
"That is all the witnesses that the defense will present," lawyer Tim Watkins informed the court, following the testimony of an FBI fingerprint expert.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys will make their closing arguments yesterday, federal judge George O'Toole said. After that, jury deliberations will begin.
Tsarnaev's lawyers have already admitted the 21-year-old Muslim was responsible for the bombings, telling jurors in their opening statement: "It was him."
However the defense have sought to portray Tsarnaev's elder brother Tamerlan -- shot dead by police in the days following the attacks -- as the architect of the bombings, arguing that his younger sibling had fallen helplessly under his influence.
Under questioning today, FBI fingerprint expert Elaina Graff acknowledged that only Tamerlan Tsarnaev's fingerprints had been found on many items of evidence including materials used to manufacture bombs. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's fingerprints were absent.
