Boston Marathon Wrap-up, Part Three: Five Stunning Challenges

by Mary W Maxwell, PhD, LLB

This Gumshoe series began with Part One, the official story. Then we saw, in Part Two, ten challenges to the official story – all of which should be used in court during the appeal of Jahar Tsrnaev’s case.

Here we continue with challenges to the official story, that is, the story produced mainly by the FBI and the media. Recall that I am listing a total of fifteen challenges. These last five concern: Jeff Bauman’s condition, the National Geographic’s “White Hat” re-enactment, Tamerlan’s Podstava arrest, the Laurel St shoot-out, and the Defenders’ visits to Russia.

Jeff Bauman’s Condition

Two surgeons and a physician have questioned the authenticity of Jeff Bauman’s injuries. Clearly he has two legs missing but they may have been missing before 2013. Dr Stanley Montieth (now deceased) and Dr Lorraine Day are surgeons who say that a man whose legs had just been blown off could not be sitting up in a wheelchair, and without tourniquet could not have survived the loss of blood.

Dr Cesar Baruja, MD, wrote to President Trump in August 2017, asking for a pardon for Jahar based on the fakery of the Bauman injuries. This doctor says a new amputee could never have recovered in 19 days to make an appearance at the Bruins game, all smiles, as Jeff did.  Baruja also thinks the blood strewn on the ground at the Marathon is not the color or texture of real blood.

He suggests it may have come from Ben Moulange kits. Those are used to make people look bloody in Hollywood movies and also for military training – to prepare soldiers or shocking scenes. Many people have viewed the photo on Internet in which Bauman appears to be holding onto a prosthetic leg, indicating that he was an amputee before the Marathon. It is also strange that we see his tibia bone but not the fibula. Everyone has two lower-leg bones; why does Jeff have only one?  In more recent pictures of Jeff in the wheelchair, the photo stops above the offending tibia. This could indicate guilty knowledge.

White Hat Re-enactment

The National Geographic magazine produces videos for TV. They produced one called “White Hat.” They used actors, of course, as all re-enactments do. One of the actors looks like Jahar and is shown leaning down to place his white backpack on the ground.

The show was broadcast on April 7, 2014, a year after the Marathon and a year before Jahar’s trial. Without doubt, people watching it thought it was the real thing, even though it said “re-enactment.” In the video we see real members of the FBI and Boston police standing in an office watching a video of the Jahar action. Maybe folks would think the reason it’s called a “re-enactment” is that it the FBI men are definitely re-enacting their behaviour of April 2013. The narration tells how excited they were when they were able to see that someone was laying a backpack right near where the bomb material was recovered. “We know now we have to go find the guy with that white hat.”

It is outrageous that right on the front of the film we see these words:  “Video surveillance evidence from the marathon provides the FBI with a lead: a suspect laying a backpack at the scene, wearing a white hat.”

Very subtle! That sentence does NOT claim that the action you are about to see IS the surveillance. It only states a fact, like “Christmas Day is December 25^th.” “Surveillance provides a lead.” But since everyone does not spend a few philosophical minutes to analyse that, they watch the show and end up believing they saw the criminal virtually caught in the act. How the authorities have mocked the people of Boston!

The question remains: Was the White Hat re-enactment shown to the jury? No it was not. They were shown “Exhibit 22.” That is yet another questionable item. A boy who looks like Jahar, approaches the tree in front of the Forum Restaurant.  Then we see him, but now only from the back, put a white backpack on the ground.

Podstava – Tamerlan’s Arrest on Mt Auburn Street

The real Tamerlan is seen, and heard, on a video taken by a resident of Mt Auburn St who calls himself “Big Headphones.” He uploaded his video to Youtube days after the event but it has not got many hits. This is the real capture and arrest of Tamerlan. He is lying on the sidewalk with cops standing over him. He wears khaki-color pants and has a beard. (This is the wee hours, 1.00am of Friday, April 19, 2013.) He yells “Podstava,” which is Russian for “I’ve been set-up.” Then he is taken away.

Shortly thereafter we see him naked being placed in a cop car. Tamerlan’s family declares this to be he; they recognize his physique. Gabe Ramirez, a reporter, is close to the scene and says a man has been arrested. Another man, an actor, was then brought in to stand against a wall naked, to confuse the identity. But there is no confusing the fact: Tamerlan was arrested at 1.05am. This is proven by police scans in which we hear the cop standing over Tamerlan say “We’ve got the package [Tamerlan] at 486 Mt Auburn.”

He then died, so he must have been killed in custody. There is of course no law, not even an anti-terrorism law, that allows a man in custody to be murdered by the authorities. We are now aware that the FBI entered the home of Tamerlan’s friend Todashev in Florida and killed him – they admit it. Todashev’s family is suing the FBI over this.

Note: Tamerlan’s death certificate dated April 25, 2013 and signed by Henry M Nields, MD, PhD, lists the cause of death as GUNSHOT WOUNDS OF TORSO AND EXTREMITIES AND BLUNT TRAUMA TO HEAD AND TORSO. But how did he get gunshot wounds?

The Shootout on Laurel St.

The brothers were not involved in any shootout on Laurel St. No dashcam or police photo has ever been presented. (Why not?) A layperson took pictures from his window near the alleged scene. The two men near the headlights are claimed to be the Tsarnaevs. Would you, in the dark, walk into headlights making yourself a target? Note that the man who is supposed to be Tamerlan is wearing dark pants, but in the Podstava video Tamerlan is wearing khaki pants. Furthermore, police say this occurred at 12.30am but that is not possible as the Podtava arrest took place at 1.05am.

The official story has Jahar throwing explosives – this is one of the counts on which he was found guilty and sentenced. It is also claims that Officer Ric Donoghue was seriously injured although this is said to be friendly fire, caused by another cop. It is said that Jahar escaped, despite innumerable armed men being at the scene. And it is famously said that Jahar, in escaping, jumped into the SUV and accidently ran over his brother.

The Visits to Russia

And now for the most shocking of the 15 challenges to the official story. After Jahar was sentenced to death, the court received an affidavit from Jahar’s Aunt Maret Tsarnaeva. It had a cover letter dated May 27, 2015, from Minnesota attorney Jack Remington Graham, who assisted her. Judge George O’Toole did not make anything of this vital information. (If he disagreed with its contents he should at least have said so.)

Maret’s affidavit says that the defense team made 14 visits to Jahar’s parents in Russia before the trial. At that time Maret, a Canadian citizen, was in Russia. She sat in on some of these visits. She says that she had the Podstava video and tried hard to show it to Judy Clarke and Bill Fick, but they would not look at it. They averted their eyes from it. They also pressured the parents (apparently successfully) to persuade Jahar to accept his defense team and to plead guilty. Another visitor was Jane, a social worker associated with the defense but claiming to be independent. Jane (who is now deceased) told the family that we know Jahar is innocent but we have been told from “high up” “not to resist conviction.”

As this has been on the Internet for two years, many members of the Massachusetts Bar Association must have seen it. They could take steps to deal with it even though Jahar is not their client. To remain silent is to accept that the United States can ask an accused person to plead guilty. Such a thing has been unknown in English law for 800 years since the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215.

Do you want it to happen to you?

–Mary W Maxwell is the author of “Marathon Bombing: Indicting the Players”