Opening arguments in Boston trial delayed

NEW YORK, United States – Opening arguments in the trial of the man accused of bombing the Boston Marathon in 2013 will be delayed because jury selection is taking longer than expected, the court said Thursday, January 22.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, faces the death penalty if convicted over the April 15, 2013 attacks on the world famous race that killed three people and wounded 264 — the worst such incident in the United States since 9/11.

A court official said the process of selecting a jury was “progressing” but “in the interest of thoroughness is taking longer than originally anticipated.”

As a result, US District Judge George O’Toole’s estimate that opening arguments would begin on January 26, is “not realistic,” the official wrote in an email.

The court provided no new start date but said an updated advisory should be available next week.

O’Toole last week refused to delay jury selection, which began January 5, after the defense charged recent attacks in Paris could influence potential jurors.

He also refused a request from the defense to move the trial outside the northeastern city. Defense lawyers had argued that it would be easier to find an impartial jury elsewhere.

Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to 30 charges.

The marathon attacks plunged the city into mourning and revived fears of terrorism in the United States more than a decade after the 9/11 Al-Qaeda plane strikes.

A Muslim of Chechen descent, Tsarnaev emigrated with his family to the United States in 2002 from Dagestan and became a naturalized American citizen in 2012.

He is accused of carrying out the attacks with his brother, Tamerlan, who was killed in a shootout with police while on the run.

Prosecutors say the brothers prepared bombs based on instructions in Al-Qaeda’s English-language magazine “Inspire.” – Rappler.com