Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s counsels pleaded for shifting of his trial out of Massachusetts citing a fair judgement. But the request drew parallels on Monday between the media coverage of the Boston case to the coverage done for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
In a filing on Monday, defense attorneys wrote that selection of impartial jurors would be impossible as ‘‘the crimes charged inflicted actual injury on the entire local population and ‘greater Boston, was itself, a victim.’’
Defense attorneys said, “Adverse pretrial publicity and leaks continue unabated and ‘media saturation can only be expected to intensify as the trial as well as the anniversary of the explosions nears.”
1997 trial of McVeigh was moved to Denver and he was ultimately awarded with the capital punishment for the bombing that claimed lives of168 people and injured hundreds.
The motion on Monday was called in response to the opposition of the prosecution to the defense’s request for change of venue for the trial. According to the prosecutors, impartial juries have been selected for the previous high-profile trials and hence can affect the decision in the case.
The defense had asked the judge to hold a hearing on their request.
The office of US attorney did not return a call for a remark on Monday.
In September, Tsarnaev’s lawyers had first requested to move the trial but the judge had turned down the request. Meanwhile, the selection of Jury is scheduled to begin on January 5.
The Boston bombing suspect has pleaded not guilty to 30 federal counts and may be awarded with the capital punishment if convicted.
Three people lost their lives, while more than 260 were injured due to the bomb explosions at two consecutive occasions near the marathon finish line on April 15 last year.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.