Recently released court documents show that Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sustained major injuries, including gunshot wounds to the head, prior to being captured by police in Watertown, according to the Boston Globe.
The transcript of testimony by Dr. Stephen Ray Odom, a surgeon who treated Tsarnaev after his arrest, was released on Monday.
"He has multiple gunshot wounds, the most severe of which appears to have entered through the left side inside of his mouth and exited the left face, lower face," Odom testified. "This was a high-powered injury that has resulted in skull-base fracture, with injuries to the middle ear, the skull base, the lateral portion of his C1 vertebrae, with a significant soft-tissue injury, as well as injury to the pharynx, the mouth, and a small vascular injury that's been treated."
Last month Tsarnaev was arraigned on 30 charges and will be facing the death penalty when he goes on trial. At the time of his arraignment Tsarnaev's face was still swollen and he had a scar just below his throat, according to the Boston Globe.
"He has multiple gunshots [sic] wounds to the extremities that have been treated with dressing to the lower extremities; and in the case of his left hand, he had multiple bony injuries as well that were treated with fixation and soft-tissue coverage, as well as tendon repair and vascular ligation," Odom said.
Tsarnaev's brother, Tamerlan, was killed in a shootout with police the night before Tsarnaev's capture. The two brothers allegedly placed the bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon that ended up killing three people while injuring over 250, according to USA Today.
Photos of Tsarnaev as he was emerging from the boat he was hiding in were released in July by Sgt. Sean Murphy. Murphy was not authorized to release the photos but chose to do in response to a Rolling Stone cover featuring the alleged bomber. The pictures released by Murphy showed Tsarnaev bloody and weak as he attempted to raise his arm to surrender to police, according to CBS News.
Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
