Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's Trial Date Set for November
Source: The Wire
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who along with his late brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, is the prime suspect in last year's Boston Marathon bombings, will go on trial for murder in November. Tsarnaev, the younger of the two brothers is accused of both the bombings that killed three people in April 2013 and injured hundreds, and the murder of a police officer during a city-wide manhunt. If convicted, federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against him.
The alleged bomber's lawyers asked U.S. District Court Judge George A. O’Toole to hold off on a trial until September of 2015, arguing that they needed extra time to review the evidence in the case. Instead, the case will go to trial on November 3, 2014, one day before the 2014 midterm elections. Boston Globe reporter Shelley Murphy notes that the judge won't rule on a defense request for a change of trial venue until at least the summer.
Tsarnaev's attorney Judy Clarke called the timeline "impossible" to meet, citing a delay in interviews with the suspect's family in Russia because of the Sochi Games. The suspect's defense team also mentioned "radio silence" from the federal government on their requests for information. The current schedule would require Tsarnaev's legal team to submit discovery by March, Fox 25's Ted Daniel explained. The evidence includes thousands of items held in an FBI lab in Virginia. The date set today matches more closely to the timeline requested by prosecutors.
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Read more: http://www.thewire.com/national/2014/02/boston-bombing-suspect-tsarnaev-gets-november-trial-date/357996/
UPDATE
November Trial Date Set For Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Why the Case Might Be Over Before Then.
CNN with the news flash:
Rebuffing his lawyers' request, a federal judge has set the trial date for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for November 3. The date was set during a status hearing in Boston federal court Wednesday. On Monday, Tsarnaev's lawyers had filed a report requesting that the trial start no earlier than September 2015.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced late last month that the U.S. government will seek the death penalty for Tsarnaev. That decision came more than nine months after the twin bombings at the Boston Marathon, and the ensuing manhunt that ultimately ended with Tsarnaev in custody and his older brother, Tamerlan, dead. Today's announcement sets a trial date for what is the highest-profile federal death penalty case since Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
Still, as I've explained before, there's a long way to go between today and Tsarnaev's trial, let alone potential execution. In nearly half of federal death penalty cases, prosecutors eventually withdraw the threat of capital punishment before trial, more often than not as part of a plea deal, according to the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel. And, as the New York Times noted last month, only three people have been put to death by the U.S. government since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988. Also working in Dzhokhar's favor is his legal team, which includes Judy Clarke, a defense lawyer with an unmatched record of keeping high-profile public enemies off of death row.
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http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/02/12/dzhokhar_tsarnaev_trial_date_federal_judge_sets_trial_for_november.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content&mc_cid=0ca105f0f0&mc_eid=7a8b58c8c3
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