Opening statements in the Boston Marathon bomber trial have been postponed as a result of the jury selection process, which is taking much longer than expected.

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 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 that same day.

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.

Opening arguments in the high profile case were scheduled to start on Monday, Jan. 26, however officials say that the jury selection process is still not complete, and therefore, the start date has been pushed back.

"It is not possible yet to specifically target a new start date," said a spokeswoman for the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts on Thursday, adding that the court expects to announce a new start date next week, according to the Washington Post.

Lawyers began sorting through about 1,200 potential jurors on Jan. 5. However, the process of selecting a panel of 18 people, which includes 12 jurors and six alternates, is taking longer than the district court had expected since many candidates have confessed that they already hold a bias against the suspect, reports Reuters.

As a result, defense attorneys continue to push for the trial to be moved outside of Boston where the attack took place in order to find an unbiased panel of jurors. They argue that the task is impossible to complete in Boston.

The trial is expected to last until May.