“Yes, Your Honor. Yes Sir, Three Bags Full, Sir.” Says Bruck

 Another co-conspirator of the prosecution: Mr. David Bruck

By Cheryl Dean

Much has been written about the “death-penalty lawyer” Judy Clarke and her dismal or I should say her non-existent defense for Dzhokhar (“Jahar”) Tsarnaev, when she announced to the world on the first day of trial that “it was him”.

I would like to bring to everyone’s attention to the second death penalty lawyer, Mr. David Bruck who was requested to assist Clarke in this case.

David Bruck had worked with Judy Clarke on prior cases, so he was aware of her strategy in regard to the death penalty. You would think that with not one, but two well known and respected death-penalty lawyers their client Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, would have been able to at least avoid Death Row, but we know that isn’t what happened. Judge O’Toole is in fact, now using Judy’s own famous words to justify why the jurors reached the decision that they reached.

(How’s that for an impartial judge!)

Two days before the trial started there was a hearing where various issues were discussed by the defense, the prosecution, and the judge. That hearing, held on March 2, 2015, is now public

document #1518. (1528) is Day 27, the first day of the trial, after 26 days were devoted to jury selection.

I quote Mr. Bruck at that hearing:

“Of the 12 statutory and non-statutory aggravating factors, all but 1 will probably be entirely proven by the government’s evidence at the liability phase. That’s – the government has known forever that this case is all about sentencing, that that’s really what we’re here about, and their liability phase will be aimed at the question of sentence”.

This is more than DISTURBING that the defense has already admitted the guilt and defeat of their client, before the trial has even begun!!

This seems beyond belief to me! I’m no lawyer, but what ever happened to defense lawyers actually DEFENDING their clients! With lawyers like this, Dzhokhar didn’t have a chance in hell of being found innocent or escaping the death penalty. He had not one single person to defend him, out of a defense team of FIVE lawyers. He did not have one person to speak to about this. He was silenced, along with his family.

This 19-year-old was almost murdered by law enforcement, traumatized, and suffered for months with critical life-altering wounds and injuries, without a single person who cared about him to speak to, to visit him, or to give him any comfort at all, let alone advice about the horrendous situation he was now in.

In a holding cell on July 10, 2013, you can clearly see the injury to his left eye and the left side of his face and mouth from bullet wounds (Middle picture). This was done to him by law enforcement. The picture on the right is Dzhokhar before all of this happened to him, just a happy go lucky normal kid.

I had to laugh when I saw the CNN news last night discussing the 3 released prisoners (I am very happy they are free !)  that had been held prisoners in an Iranian prison in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT! It was as if the US government found this so horrible and so inhumane. The three men were taken to Germany to a US hospital there for physical and psychological treatment.

Yet the US currently has 80,000 of their own citizens imprisoned in solitary confinement, including Dzhokhar, and many have been there for years, some for decades). If that isn’t calling the kettle black, I don’t know what is.

And, here is a teenager, a US citizen, whose parents live in Russia, but not a word is said in the media about his inhumane treatment right here in the US.

Getting back to David Bruck and document 1518:

Judge O’Toole: “I think several matters to be discussed — one is the defense objection to the clip of the — what’s called the April 18th law enforcement video.”

Bruck: “Yes, your Honor. Thank you. The issue here is really quite narrow. Obviously, the fact that the defendant’s and his brother’s pictures were publicized, released to the news media on the afternoon of April 18th, is relevant. And there’s not any question about that. The question is whether that fact, which could be proven in any one of a number of ways, should be accompanied by what amounts almost to a closing argument, a lawyer’s argument, a very dramatic press conference by Special Agent in Charge Rick DesLaurier in which he did several things.

Now, again, I want to make clear that we are not – we are also not the least bit critical of anything Mr. DesLaurier said or did at this press conference. Our point is simply that it is not evidence in a criminal trial for the reasons that we set out in our motion.”

WOW!!  Bruck says the defense is not the least bit critical of ANYTHING  Des Laurier said or did at that press conference!!

The same press conference where DesLaurier said, “Don’t look at any other pictures, except these”. The pictures where they tried to hide the fact that Dzhokhar had a white backpack!

He also said:

“The two suspects were seen walking one behind one another in the crowd near where the explosions occurred on Monday. Suspect 2 was seen setting a backpack down at the site of the second explosion.”

This is referring to the forum video, which does not by any means show Dzhokhar sitting his backpack down.”DesLauriers also said that the FBI considers the two suspects as “armed and extremely dangerous” and should not be approached.

This is the kind of expert lawyer Bruck is, just an extension of the prosecution who helped to make sure that his client was convicted on all charges and received the death penalty. David Bruck has moved on to defend Dylan Roof, let’s see what that outcome will be .

Will it make any difference for Dzhokhar and his situation to point these lies out? I don’t know, but certainly people should know about what goes on  inside US courts, and if you ever need a lawyer, make sure it’s NOT this guy, David Bruck.

Just my advice: don’t get brucked.

–Cheryl Dean and Josée Lépine have up-ended the bag of unsealed documents from the Marathon trial onto their respective living room floors. More Gumshoe articles will soon flow from this.