Boston Marathon Bomber Trial Update: Federal Judge Denies Defense Motion to Delay Trial, Defense Files an Appeal
A federal judge has denied Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's last-minute request to postpone his upcoming trial for nine months and move it case out of Massachusetts. As a result, the high profile case is still set to begin on Monday, Jan. 5 in Boston.
Tsarnaev and his now deceased brother, Tamerlan, are accused of planting two bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, killing three people and injuring 264 others. In addition, prosecutors say that the Chechen brothers fatally shot a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer three days later. Tamerlan, 26, was then killed in a gun battle with police on April 18.
The 21-year-old suspected terrorist has pleaded not guilty to 30 charges connected to the explosions and could face the death penalty if convicted. The defense, however, argues that Tamerlan was the mastermind behind the attack.
Earlier this week, defense lawyers petitioned a federal judge to delay the trial until September so that they could have more time for preparation. They argued that prosecutors have withheld evidence that would help prove that the accused was being influenced by his brother. They also stated on Monday that they recently received over 19,000 pages of documents, adding to the massive volume of evidence that they need to review.
"Only adequate preparation makes a fair trial possible. But we face a situation where Mr. Tsarnaev is being afforded substantially less time to prepare than the vast majority of defendants in federal capital cases," defense lawyers wrote in the filing, reports the Associated Press.
To add to their argument, the defense said they need more time to review information regarding Stephen Silva, the man who recently confessed to having once possessed the gun that prosecutors said the bombing suspects used to kill the police officer at MIT.
Also on Monday, Tsarnaev's lawyers filed a document with the court in support of their motion to move the trial out of Massachusetts due to the intense media coverage surrounding the case.
However, on Wednesday, Judge George O'Toole denied the defense's requests, prompting the defense to ask a federal appeals court to change the trial venue or order the trial judge to hold a hearing to determine where the trial should take place.
According to NBC News, the trial schedule will remain unchanged, unless the court of appeals decides to act.
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