Boston Marathon Bombing Trial Update: Defense File Third Motion to Move Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Death Penalty Case Out of Massachusetts
Lawyers representing accused Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have filed a third motion to move his trial outside of Massachusetts on the grounds that he cannot get a fair trial in the state.
On Tuesday, the defense asked the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to order Judge George O'Toole, who is presiding over the case, to move the trial to another state or suspend jury selection until he rules on a third change of venue request. Last month, the 1st Circuit rejected a similar request made by the defense.
In their new request, Tsarnaev's lawyers pointed to questionnaires filled out by 1,373 prospective jurors that revealed that 68 percent already believe that Tsarnaev is guilty, reports My Fox Boston.
Also on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge George A. O'Toole Jr. announced that he expecting jury selection to be completed by the end of next week. He added that the case was "progressing satisfactorily," despite the cancellation of several court sessions due to recent snow storms, The Boston Globe reports.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to 30 charges connected to the explosion at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, which killed three people and injured 264 others. In addition to planting two bombs at the race, prosecutors say that the 21-year-old suspected terrorist and his now deceased brother, Tamerlan, also 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.
Lawyers began sorting through hundreds of 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.
Tsarnaev faces the death penalty if found guilty.
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