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Prosecutors seek to bar Tsarnaev from viewing all autopsy photos – Metro US

Prosecutors seek to bar Tsarnaev from viewing all autopsy photos

FBI photo of Boston Marathon Bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Citing the rights and dignity of the Boston Marathon bombing victims, federal prosecutors are asking a judge to bar alleged bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from viewing the autopsy photographs of those killed in the attack.

Prosecutors filed a motion Monday asking Judge George O’Toole to issue a protective order barring Tsarnaev from personally viewing any autopsy photos of the victims except those offered as evidence by the U.S. Attorney’s office or his defense for the trial.

“The government maintains, however, that Tsarnaev has no need to review personally the many photos that will not be used against him, and that allowing him to do so would violate the victims’ rights to dignity and privacy and subject them to needless harm and suffering,” prosecutors wrote in the filing. “Specifically, allowing photos of the mutilated bodies of the victims to be viewed by the man accused of mutilating them would needlessly revictimize the family members in the same way that innocent children who are photographed pornographically are revictimized whenever those photos are seen by others.”

Prosecutors said they have made available the photographs for inspection and review by Tsarnaev’s lawyers, but would not be providing copies due to their sensitive nature and so Tsarnaev could not review all of them.

Tsarnaev’s trial is scheduled for November.

Follow Michael Naughton on Twitter @metrobosmike.