Boston Marathon bombing jury selection set to resume after snow delay

Boston Marathon bombing jury selection set to resume after snow delay

Dzokhar Tsarnaev's defense team have tried repeatedly to move the trial outside of Massachusetts, arguing that he won't get a fair trial in Boston, but the judge has rejected those requests.

After being postponed for two days due to heavy snowfall in the region, jury selection for the trial of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is set to resume.

Tsarnaev has been accused of participating in the 2013 attack that killed three and injured 260 near the finish line of the annual marathon, and the resulting manhunt resulted in the death of his older brother. Tsarnaev could face the death penalty if convicted, according to an Associated Press report.

Jury selection began back on Jan. 5. It was halted on Monday and Tuesday after a snowstorm blew in 2 feet of snow into the state of Massachusetts and the surrounding region. However, Judge George O’Toole Jr. determined that jury selection could continue with the questioning of jurors individually.

Lawyers for Tsarnaev say that he can’t receive a fair trial in Boston due to the high emotions from the bombing and the fact that many people have personal connections to those who were injured in the attack. However, O’Toole has been unsympathetic to requests to move the trial outside of Massachusetts, rejecting the bid three times.

Tsarnaev is accused of plotting with his brother to plant two pressure cooker bombs that exploded on the street during the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. The bombs exploded within 12 seconds of each other and just a few hundred feet apart near the finish line, causing mass injuries and general chaos.

The incident sparked a massive manhunt, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation taking the lead. Three days later, the FBI released pictures of the suspects, and they were later identified as Chechen brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Not long after the images were released, they allegedly killed an MIT policeman and carjacked an SUV before getting in a gunfight with police. Tamerlan was killed in the gunfight after being shot several times and then being inadvertently run over by his brother, Dzhokhar, when he tried to flee in the SUV.

Police swarmed the Watertown portion of Boston, telling the public to stay indoors, Dzokhar was finally found hiding in a boat in the backyard of one home in the area, and he was taken into custody.

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