Jury queried at Boston Marathon bombing trial
Lawyers for the Boston Marathon bombing suspect have asked a judge to dismiss the indictment against their client or suspend his trial, saying there are not enough minorities and younger people in the jury pool.
The move by lawyers for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev came just days before opening statements and evidence are set to begin in his federal death penalty trial.
Tsarnaev, 21, is accused of carrying out twin bombings at the 2013 marathon. The explosions killed three people and injured more than 260.
In their written motion, Tsarnaev’s lawyers said the selection process has undermined the required random summoning of potential jurors. They also said the process violated Tsarnaev’s constitutional right to have a jury which represents a “fair cross-section of the community”.
The defence said 1,373 people, summoned from a population of about five million in eastern Massachusetts, were originally given numbers based on a random pool order list. New numbers were later assigned, based on when the jurors reported to court to complete written questionnaires.
The defence argues that the reordering undermined the randomness of the selection process and pushed certain groups – including blacks, people under 30 and people who live in Boston – down the list and made them less likely to be chosen for the jury. Only about half of the 1,373 people summoned were considered based on their written questionnaires or questioned individually.
A spokeswoman for prosecutors declined to comment. The judge did not immediately rule on the request.
Tsarnaev’s lawyers have argued repeatedly that the trial should be moved out of Massachusetts because of the emotional impact the bombings had in the state and because many people have personal connections to the case.
They have been turned down three times by Judge George O’Toole Jr but last week argued before the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals. The court has not yet issued its ruling.
Opening statements in the trial are scheduled for March 4.
