Boston Marathon Testimony at Tsarnaev Trial; Who Helped the Tsarnaev Brothers?
BANFIELD: This is a terrifying thought. The Tsarnaev brothers may have had help in carrying out the bombing at the Boston Marathon. And those co-conspirators just might be out there somewhere plotting their next attack. CNN's Alexandra Field reports on how this looming mystery might just end up helping Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's defense at trial.</s>ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We knew them first as suspect one and suspect two. But almost immediately after the manhunt that left one dead and the other captured, investigators privately questioned if there were more involved. The reason for the doubts? The bombs. Court documents reveal questions from the beginning about whether Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were capable of making them. "These relatively sophisticated devices would have been difficult for the Tsarnaevs to fabricate. Searches of the Tsarnaevs' residences, three vehicles and other locations associated with them yielded virtually no traces of black powder. Of the two remote control detonators used during the marathon bombings, only one was recovered." And nearly two years later, the doubts still linger.</s>MICHAEL MARKS, FORMER NCIS SPECIAL AGENT: These were two relatively sophisticated devices that went off almost simultaneously. They had a very, very short delay. It would be my opinion that they had somebody who was more of a skilled bombmaker, an engineer, if you will, assist them in saying, these are the steps you need to go through.</s>FIELD: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told police he and his brother acted alone and built the bombs following instructions from al Qaeda's "Inspire" magazine. Investigators say the explosives were made with improvised fuses from Christmas lights and remote control detonators made from model car parts. Not impossible, but hard to get right without testing. And the government has never said where the bombs were made or if there's evidence the Tsarnaevs tested others.</s>JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: And that is a big gap in the evidentiary case.</s>FIELD (on camera): Is it possible that police still believe to this day that somebody helped these brothers build a bomb?</s>KAYYEM: In the absence of any proof that they had the capability to do it, there will continue to be investigations about whether there could have been three, four or five others.</s>FIELD (voice-over): But who? No one has been publically named as a possible co-conspirators. Investigators have focused on Tamerlan's suspected ties to militants. In 2012, the older Tsarnaev spent six months in Russia. Authorities have questioned how much exposure he may have had to radicals and whether he could have received training there. It's not clear if either side will suggest that there may have been a third party involved in the attack, but the defense will try to pin the blame on others.</s>KAYYEM: The defense strategy is -- is going to be to create enough doubt within the juror's mind of Dzhokhar's sort of mental state leading into this. So this idea that there might be some evil hand out there telling Dzhokhar what to do, whether it's his brother or someone who's a bombmaker, fits nicely into that narrative.</s>FIELD: The trial centers on how the jury will see suspect number two. The prosecution painting a portrait of a cruel co-conspirator and equal partner in hideous crimes, radicalized through Internet research spewing the rhetoric of al Qaeda. A man who planned to kill and did. But the defense will draw Dzhokhar in the shadow of a mastermind older brother, younger, struggling in school, abandoned by his parents, an easy victim of deep manipulation from suspect number one.</s>FIELD: The defense strategy of portraying Tamerlan as the mastermind is meant to build some kind of sympathy for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with the jury. He faces 30 federal charges, 17 of those charges come with a possible death sentence. Defense attorneys are hoping that any measure of sympathy that they can garner for the younger Tsarnaev could save his life. Alexandra Field, CNN, Boston, Massachusetts.</s>BANFIELD: We'll see about how these possible co-conspirators could impact the trial with CNN legal analyst Danny Cevallos and HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson, back with me. So, OK, so maybe there's someone else in the conspiracy. But isn't a conspiracy still just as bad if you're in it than if you're not in it, meaning, if they believe Dzhokhar is in it, what does it matter there might be someone else out there?</s>JACKSON: Absolutely. Look, the reality -- in terms of legal significance, examining his actions here doesn't matter if there are four other people, five other people. The fact that he acted makes him criminally responsible and subjects him to the death penalty. Now why else would it matter? Obviously, the government has an interest in insuring that anybody who exacted this carnage upon a community is brought to justice and also monitoring and ensuring the safety of all America so that these people, if there are any who helped with these bombs, are, you know, ultimately brought</s>BANFIELD: OK. I always get it when an attorney brings in reasonable doubt. Any kind of reasonable doubt.</s>CEVALLOS: Take a step back. This is not a typical defense. It really isn't even a whodunit anymore. In a death penalty case like this, it appears the defense has taken the strategy of essentially conceding liability. Throughout the liability phase of this trial they will introduce the jury to the defendant so that when it comes to the penalty phase, they know who he is and he becomes more difficult to put to death. That appears to be their strategy. Remember, also by going through a trial, there may ultimately be appealable issues during that trial that they can use later on. The strategy here is very different.</s>BANFIELD: Hasn't he become less likeable with ever terror attack that's out there? America hates this. They're getting sick and tired of terror attacks, whether they're here at home or elsewhere. And every single time there's something else that goes on, they want people to pay, period.</s>JACKSON: Well, of course. And he's going to become even less likable as the trial goes through the second anniversary of the bombing on April 15th.</s>CEVALLOS: Oh, yes.</s>JACKSON: Danny, you spoke about appealable issues. They have them. They have attempted to move this trial four different times. The judge has said, no. They've attempted to delay it. The judge said, no. At the end of the day, you know, again, I don't see that he's found innocent for sure.</s>BANFIELD: I don't know where you move a trial like this.</s>JACKSON: The question is whether or not he's sentenced to death.</s>BANFIELD: You can move it to Mars and you're still going to have Americans who are livid. An attack on Boston was an attack on everybody.</s>JACKSON: I cannot disagree.</s>BANFIELD: An attack down at the trade center was an attack on all of us. All right, Joey, Danny, thank you. Appreciate it.</s>JACKSON: Thank you, Ashleigh.</s>BANFIELD: Up next, what exactly goes through your mind in the moment that a plane you're on starts skidding off a runway headed for frigid, icy waters mere feet away? Well, fortunately, every single passenger who was on that plane on your screen yesterday at LaGuardia is alive and well enough to talk about it today. Here's a hint coming up, they did a lot of praying.