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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The sister-in-law of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has not been identified as a witness for prosecutors or the defense in his trial, and she has not been told she's the subject of any investigation, her lawyer said Wednesday.
"She has not been identified as a witness to us," attorney Amato DeLuca told The Associated Press after opening statements began Wednesday in Tsarnaev's trial.
Tsarnaev is the younger brother of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died in a gunbattle with police who were searching for both men after the bombings. A lawyer for Dzhokar Tsarnaev admitted in court Wednesday that he participated in the bombings but said he was influenced by Tamerlan Tsarnaev to carry out the crimes.
DeLuca said he and his client, Katherine Russell, have not heard from federal officials since nearly a year ago, shortly before last year's Boston Marathon. They have not been contacted by the defense, either, he said.
DeLuca said he spoke with Russell on Wednesday morning.
"She's doing fine. Working and taking care of her kid," he said.
Russell and the daughter she had with Tamerlan Tsarnaev are now living in New Jersey. They moved there after staying with her family in Rhode Island in the months after the bombings.
Russell's parents and sisters were called before a grand jury investigating the bombings in 2013.
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