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Policeman Faces Discipline for Leaking Boston Bomber Photos


A sniper trains his bead on Tsarnaev.
A sniper trains his bead on Tsarnaev.
A U.S. policeman is facing discipline for his unauthorized release of photos he took of a bloodied Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as the Boston Marathon bombing suspect was arrested in April.

Police authorities in Massachusetts scheduled a hearing Tuesday to determine whether a police photographer, Sergeant Sean Murphy, should be disciplined beyond the one-day suspension he was handed last week after releasing the photos.

Murphy has won public support after turning over the photos to Boston magazine, with more than 50,000 people expressing their approval for his actions in an Internet petition.

The police photographer released the photos to the magazine after another publication, Rolling Stone, published a cover story photo of a curly-haired Tsarnaev that Murphy thought glorified the suspect.

Murphy told Boston magazine that his photos showed "the real Boston bomber. Not someone fluffed and buffed for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine."

Murphy's photos showed the bloodied Tsarnaev as he emerged from a boat parked in a homeowner's back yard where he was hiding as police closed in. Several photos show a police sharpshooter's red laser dot aimed at his head. He is in custody awaiting trial for the twin Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260 others.
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