Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose federal terrorism trial is set to start Jan. 5, lost a last-ditch bid to delay the proceeding after one of his best friends pleaded guilty in a related gun case.
Tsarnaev, 21, also lost a request to relocate the trial to New York or Washington from Boston — a move the defense argued was necessary to secure unbiased jurors in a case where he may face the death penalty if he’s convicted.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston, who will oversee the trial, issued the brief decision Wednesday in the case’s docket without explanation and said a formal opinion would be posted later.
The rulings are the latest setback for Tsarnaev, accused of detonating two homemade bombs in crowds near the Marathon finish line on April 15, 2013, killing three spectators and wounding 260 others. It was the deadliest terrorist bombing in the U.S. since the attacks of September 2001. Previous bids to move the trial and delay it for an extended period were also denied.
Tsarnaev’s star defense team, which has worked on some of the highest-profile death penalty cases in the United States, sought to delay the trial until September after Stephen Silva, who went to high school with the accused bomber, reached a Dec. 19 plea deal on gun and heroin charges and agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of his former classmate.
Government lawyers believe Silva owned the gun that was used by Tsarnaev’s late older brother, Tamerlan, to murder a police officer in the days after the marathon attack, according to court filings. Silva isn’t accused of involvement in the shooting or bombing.
The defense sought to move the trial claiming that local news media were turning potential jurors against him with stories comparing him to Islamic State militants.
The Sunni Muslim insurgent group, also known as ISIS, has made headlines worldwide for its mass executions and beheadings in parts of Iraq and Syria. Reports connecting Tsarnaev to the group hurt his chance at a fair trial in Boston, defense lawyers said.
Prosecutors claim Tsarnaev was inspired by al-Qaida and motivated by the killing of Muslim civilians in U.S. military actions. The defense hasn’t denied he was involved, saying they instead plan to pin greater blame on Tamerlan Tsarnaev to avoid a death penalty.
