Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect to Face Victims' Families in Court

Mother of two wounded said she's going to stare down "face of evil."

ByABC News
July 9, 2013, 10:21 AM

July 9, 2013 </br>BOSTON -- For the first time since a pair of bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 260 others in mid-April, the surviving bombing suspect is expected to be in court to hear charges leveled against him Wednesday.

A probable cause hearing for Dzhokar Tsarnaev, 19, will be held at 3:30 p.m. ET at the same South Boston federal courthouse where notorious Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger's trial is underway. Authorities told ABC News there will be a heavy police presence around the courthouse as charges contained in a 30-count indictment against Tsarnaev are laid out.

Tsarnaev is charged with killing three people in the April 15 bombing – restaurant manager Krystle Marie Campbell, Boston University student Lingzi Lu and 8-year-old Martin Richard – as well as taking part in the murder of MIT police officer Sean Collier, who was fatally shot days after the bombing. Tsarnaev is also charged with causing grievance injury to MBTA police officer Richard Donahue and an assortment of federal terror-related crimes. Tsarnaev was seriously wounded in a firefight with police before he was apprehended.

Families of the slain and bomb victims who suffered amputations, burns, and debilitating injuries are expected to attend tomorrow's proceeding to stare down "the face of evil," as the mother of two of the severely injured told ABC News.

"It has been incredibly hard to accept what happened to my boys,'' said Liz Norden, whose sons Paul and JP each lost a leg in the attack. "I'm angry. I want to be there."

Tsarnaev is also facing charges stemming from a bomb and bullet battle that he and his older brother, Tamerlan, 26, allegedly engaged in with police in suburban Watertown hours after the FBI released their photographs to the public days after the bombing. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot during the firefight but was also mortally wounded by his brother. According to the indictment against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev unsealed earlier this month, prosecutors revealed that three Watertown Police Officers had tackled Tamerlan Tsarnaev and were trying to handcuff him when Dzhokhar jumped into a vehicle and "drove it directly" at the officers.

"He barely missed Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese, who was attempting to drag Tamerlan Tsarnaev to safety,'' the indictment states. "Then Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ran over Tamerlan Tsarnaev, seriously injuring him and contributing to his death."

The indictment also included a timeline of the terror that erupted along the final stretch of the 26-mile marathon route.

The first blast, prosecutors stated, went off in front of Marathon Sports at 671 Boylston Street at 2:49 pm – detonated by Tamerlan Tsarnaev using a cell phone after he received a call from Dzhokhar giving him the okay.

Krystle Campbell was killed in that first explosion, which also resulted in the "maiming" of many others, the indictment states. The second bomb was "detonated by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev" after he placed it in front of the Forum Restaurant. That blast killed the little boy and the BU student, according to the indictment, and seriously injured dozens of others.

Those who survived the finish line blasts were seriously wounded. Among them were 15 victims who lost a limb – including the Norden brothers and Martin Richard's younger sister, 7-year-old Jane, whose left leg was lost below the knee. Other victims were partially blinded, like the slain boy's mother Denise Richard, or suffered permanent hearing loss, like Bill Richard, the boy's father.