Nearly 1,200 people are being considered for the 12 jury positions and six alternates. The judge plans to allow three weeks for jury selection.
Pretrial Debates
Tsarnaev’s lawyers filed to move the trial out of state multiple times. Of chief concern is whether an impartial jury can be found within Massachusetts for such a high-profile crime. Defense attorneys referenced the extensive media coverage of the bombings, saying such emotional coverage had prejudiced the jury pool.
Tsarnaev’s defense team also filed to delay the trial for up to nine months so that lawyers would have more time to review key information. The defense has received a large volume of information provided by the government, which it wants more time to go over.
Defense lawyers also argue that the prosecution has withheld vital information which could prove Tsarnaev was acting under the influence of his older brother Tamerlan, who died days after the bombing.
Tsarnaev’s lawyers also want more time to look into a recent claim by Stephen Silva, a school friend of Tsarnaev who admitted to having once possessed the Ruger pistol used in the violent confrontation with MIT police after the bombing. Tsarnaev’s defense argued that Silva’s December 19 confession was recent enough to merit a delay.
But U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole Jr. denied these requests. In September, the judge said defense lawyers had failed to prove that a group of Boston jurors would be biased.
On Thursday, prosecutors agreed with the judge’s decision, and also referenced the importance of allowing victims the opportunity to witness the trial.
“The Boston Marathon bombing and related events during the week of April 15, 2013, affected several hundred victims, including both those allegedly killed and injured by Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan, and their families,” a filing from the prosecution states. “Moving the trial out of the Eastern Division would create an enormous hardship for those victims and their families, depriving many, if not most of them, of any ability to see the trial.”
Both sides have cited previous high-profile crimes in their arguments for both moving the trial and for keeping it in Boston. The defense referenced the case of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, whose trial was moved to Denver because of pretrial media coverage. The prosecution cites the 2013 trial of crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger, which took place in Boston even with Bulger’s infamous reputation in the city.
Death Penalty
If found guilty — and with huge amounts of evidence linking him to the crime, law experts say he likely will be — Tsarnaev will move to a sentencing trial. While Massachusetts has outlawed the death penalty, and hasn’t executed anyone since the 1947 executions of gangsters Philip Bellino and Edward Gertson, the death penalty could be in consideration since Tsarnaev is being tried in a federal court. He faces 30 charges, 17 of which are punishable by death.
Leading Tsarnaev’s legal team is Judy Clarke, a defense attorney with a long history of keeping high-profile clients off of death row. She managed to secure a life sentence for Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, and Jared Loughner, who was convicted for the mass shooting that injured Representative Gabrielle Giffords in 2011. She also kept Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park Bomber, from receiving the death sentence.
Several controversial executions throughout the United States in the last year have also raised concerns about the efficacy of the process. The April execution of Clayton Lockett drew strong criticism after witnesses watched Lockett writhe in pain for 43 minutes.
Making things even more difficult, the European Union has stopped importing lethal injection drugs to the U.S. because of its concerns over U.S. death penalty practices.
Nancy Gertner, a former federal judge for the District Court of Massachusetts, said she believes that conducting a full trial is a mistake, and that Tsarnaev should be allowed to plead guilty and receive a life sentence.
“He’s going to be on death row for decades. There will be multiple appeals,” she said. “Looking at it realistically, he’s going to die in prison one way or the other if he’s convicted. So this really is a ceremony that doesn’t make sense."
Marty Walsh, Boston’s mayor, has indicated that many in his city aren’t interested in watching the trial play out.
“People just feel that they know what happened on that day,” Walsh said. “And I think a lot of people are saying, ‘Let’s move beyond this thing so families can have some peace.’”
Tsarnaev stands on trial for detonating pressure-cooker bombs at the Boston Marathon finish line, which killed three people and injured over 260. His older brother was shot in a police confrontation and died in the hospital days later, while Tsarnaev was apprehended after discovered hiding in a boat in a Boston suburb. Tsarnaev pleads not guilty to all charges, including the fatal shooting of a police officer.
