Defense Bid To Photograph Marathon Bombing Suspect Rejected

A judge has rejected a request from lawyers for Boston Marathon suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to allow them to take periodic photos of him in prison.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler denied the request Friday, saying the Fort Devens prison where Tsarnaev is housed has a policy against visitors bringing cameras. Bowler said prison officials may take photos of Tsarnaev, but the photos would not be reserved only for Tsarnaev's lawyers, as they requested.

The defense had argued that Tsarnaev's "injuries over time" would provide evidence of "his evolving mental and physical state." His lawyers argued that the photos could provide evidence on the voluntariness of his statements and could be used in an argument to mitigate his sentence.

The 19-year-old Tsarnaev is charged in the April 15 bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260.