Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial: Jeff Bauman testifies at Boston bombing trial

Jeff Bauman,who lost his legs in the Boston Marathon bombing and whose injuries were capturedin an iconic photoofthe attack, testified today that he locked eyes withwithTamerlanTsarnaevmoments before the explosion.

Baumansaid he was near the finish line with a friendwhen a suspicious-looking man nudged him.

"He didnt look likeanyone there. He was alone, wasnt watching the race,"Baumantestified. "Hedidnt look like he was having fun like everyone else. I lookedat him, he kind of looked at me, stared down at me."

Bauman, who waswidely seen in a news photo being wheeled away from thescene alongside a man in a cowboy hat (Carlos Arredondo),walked into court this morning wearing shorts, exposinghis prosthetic legs.

DzhokharTsarnaev, the brother of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, is on trial in Boston for the attack and could get the death penalty if convicted of charges he helped carry out the 2013 bombings.

The accusedturned to watch Bauman walk into the witness box.

Throughout his testimony, Bauman appeared to frequently glancetoward Tsarnaev.Bauman was upbeat and seemed full ofpositive energy as he recounted the events of that day.

Bauman, along with friends, went to the race, his first ever,to watch his then girlfriend (now wife) run.After watching her at Mile 17, mid-race, they decided to go near the finish line to watchher cross.

In the thick of the boisterous andhappy crowd,a passerby nudged him and turned and looked back, Bauman testified. That's when he locked eyes withTamerlanTsarnaev.

TamerlanTsarnaev, 26, died followinga gun battle with police days after the bombing.

Saw bag unattended

Bauman said he then focused on the race, looking for hisgirlfriend.

"Ilooked back and I saw a bag there, unattended. I thoughtthat was weird. I looked around for him."

"It looked like a regular school backpack, a regular backpack," he said. "Ijust thought it was weird. Like when youre at the airport,that kind of went through my head, when you see anyunattended luggage you notify authorities. I just thought it wasweird."

He turned and said to his friends thatmaybe theyshould movepast the finish line, to look for his girlfriend. One of thefriends said they should wait five more minutes.

"Two seconds later I saw a flash, heard three pops, and I wason the ground," Bauman said.

"I lifted my head and saw the chaos around me, the smoke, allthe stuff going on. People were screaming, my ears were ringing."

He saw his friends leg was really bad, saw bone. Then, "I looked down and saw my legs. It was just pure carnage.Icould see my bones sticking out."

'This is messed up'

"I was thinking, This is messed up, this is messed up, this is messed up.Thats all I was thinking."

Bauman said he thought he was going to die and made peace with himself, but then heard a second explosion.

He said something 'clicked'and he renewed his emotional focus.

"I was just, kind of, just 'I'm not going to lay here. Im going totry something."

He said hesat up as people rushed toward him, grabbing shoelaces,belts, anything to make tourniquets.

"I see a guy in a cowboy hat. Hes yelling at me 'OK, stick withit.'I was focusing on him. He was keeping me calm. I had hopeat that point."

Bauman said he was lifted into a wheelchair and rushed to the medicaltent and then into an ambulance.

He had three surgeries, Bauman said, and when hewoke up he wrote down on a notepad what he remembered.

"I recalled this suspicious kid that I saw. I didnt know forcertain that he was what happened, but I knew it was, at that point, it was pretty clear in my head what happened."

"I had only one goal at that point which was to tell whoever Icould what I knew. I wrote down what happened, I saw thekid, I know what happened."

He was in hospital for a month and a day, and inrehab until twomonths ago.He still has constant ringing in his ears.

"I can't hear that well at all,"he said.

Before testimony began Thursday,Tsarnaev'slawyers complained to the judge that the survivors' testimony from the previous day was too gruesome and should be limited.Defence attorney DavidBrucksaid under the federal death penalty law, victim-impact testimony is supposed to be presented during the second phase of the trial.

However,U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr. rejected the request.