adminBoston – A judge granted a two-month trial delay on Wednesday for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, but denied a defence request to move his trial from Boston. Judge George O’Toole ruled that the trial will begin on January 5 instead of November 3, but said there’s no reason to assume in advance that a fair jury cannot be selected in Massachusetts.
Defence attorneys had asked that the trial be moved to Washington, DC, citing extensive media coverage in Boston and evaluations of public sentiment by their experts. They also asked for a trial delay until at least September 2015, saying they have not had time to prepare for a November trial, and had been given less time than was granted in many other federal death penalty cases.
Tsarnaev, 21, has pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Prosecutors say he and his older brother placed two pressure cooker bombs that exploded near the marathon’s finish line. Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died in a shootout with police several days later.
“Although media coverage in this case has been extensive, at this stage the defendant has failed to show that it has so inflamed and pervasively prejudiced the pool that a fair and impartial jury cannot be empaneled in this District,” O’Toole wrote.
He also wrote that a short delay is warranted because of the large amount of evidence the defence has received from prosecutors. But he said, “An additional delay of ten months as requested by the defendant does not appear necessary.”
Prosecutors and defence attorneys agreed they would need to summon about 2,000 potential jurors, but they filed more than 100 pages of legal briefs arguing over moving the trial.- AP.
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