BOSTON — The jury hearing the case against accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev viewed a raft of digital evidence taken from the defendant's phone, computers and other devices, including jihadist literature linked to al Qaeda.
FBI Agent Kevin Swindon, a computer forensics expert, testified Thursday that a computer used by Tsarnaev included copies of Inspire, the al Qaeda-associated magazine. One copy included an article titled "How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom," Swindon said.
Investigators also found a evidence that the computer had been used to visit a YouTube video about Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Muslim cleric and a spiritual leader to al Qaeda who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2011.
Prosecutors have charged that Tsarnaev, along with his older brother and alleged accomplice Tamerlan Tsarnaev, became increasingly drawn to Islamic militancy in the months before the attack, listening to militant-linked music, researching bomb-making and collecting many issues of Inspire.
Three people were killed and dozens more were injured in twin blasts that rocked the finish line of the marathon on April 15, 2013. An MIT police officer, Sean Collier, was killed during the ensuing manhunt. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a shootout with police.
IN DEPTH
—Tom Winter, Andy Thibault and Jon Schuppe