BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- In federal court on Monday, it almost felt like the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was the trial of his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
The defense focused on him all day long. The defense is trying to convince the jury to spare Dzhokhar's life by saying the Marathon Bombing was all Tamerlan's idea.
To help drive that point home, the defense called Tamerlan's mother-in-law Judith Russell to the stand.
Russell, shed some light on the relationship between Tamerlan and her daughter, Katherine Russell Tsarnaeva, in the trial of younger brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Judith Russell told the jury that her daughter had no interest in religion when she was younger, but after meeting Tamerlan at a club while she was a student at Suffolk University in Boston. everything changed.
"I didn't mind her adopting Islam, there is nothing wrong with Islam,' Russell said. "But I was worried about all that came with it."
She called Tamerlan's six-month-long trip to Russia selfish. She felt "it was a vacation," and it left Katherine alone in the US with the couple's daughter.
When the FBI released Tamerlan's picture after the bombings, Russell said she initially didn't recognize her son-in-law, and she said she never met Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
It is the relationship between the Tsarnaev brothers that the defense is hoping will spare Dzhokhar's life.
Also Monday, Gina Crawford, a close friend of Katherine's testified. She said she texted Katherine on the day of the bombings to ask if she was alright.
"A lot more people are killed every day in Syria + other places," Katherine responded.
In the defense's open statements Monday morning, defense attorney David Bruck said Dzhokhar was a good kid, corrupted by Tamerlan radical views.
Bruck told the jury Tsarnaev should be punished, but not given death penalty, and told jurors instead to send Tsarnaev to the federal Supermax prison in Colorado.
Cox Media Group
