http://www.wsj.com/articles/boston-m...WhatsNewsFifth
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Boston Marathon Bombing Trial to Begin Wednesday
Accused bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces potential death penalty
BOSTON—Nearly two years after a pair of deadly explosions tore through the crowd at the Boston Marathon finish line, the trial of accused bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is set to get under way Wednesday with a potential death penalty hanging in the balance.
Attorneys are expected to make opening statements Wednesday morning, a day after federal Judge George O’Toole empaneled a jury. The jury of 10 women and eight men, including alternates, was chosen from an original pool of 1,373 people in a painstaking process that began Jan. 5.
The judge spent weeks interviewing individual candidates to find jurors who said they could keep an open mind about the high-profile case and would consider capital punishment for Mr. Tsarnaev if he is convicted.
The 21-year-old has pleaded not guilty to 30 charges connected to the April 2013 attack and the fatal shooting of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer days later. The bombing killed three and wounded more than 260.
The trial is expected to last into June, Judge O’Toole said recently.
It is the most closely followed trial in Boston since the conviction of notorious mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger in August 2013. Authorities believe Mr. Tsarnaev, 19 years old at the time of the attack, worked alongside his older brother Tamerlan to plant two homemade pressure-cooker bombs at the marathon finish line. Authorities also believe the brothers shot and killed the MIT officer during an attempt to flee the Boston area days later, after they were identified by surveillance photos.
Prosecutors are expected to argue Mr. Tsarnaev was a willing participant who wanted to avenge Muslim deaths and bantered with friends in the bombing’s aftermath. At the time, authorities were engaged in an intense manhunt while Boston mourned the victims, including 8-year-old Martin Richard, who was killed on the scene along with two women, ages 23 and 29.
The defense is expected to portray Mr. Tsarnaev as the pawn of Tamerlan, who died at age 26 following a shootout with police during the brothers’ capture.
Tamerlan was the “lead conspirator” and the person who “started this whole thing,” defense attorney David Bruck said during a hearing Monday. He was responding to a prosecution argument that the defense shouldn’t be able to make that case until a potential sentencing phase. If Mr. Tsarnaev is convicted, the same jury will hear arguments and evidence before deciding if he should be executed.
Judge O’Toole has yet to rule on that and other lingering issues, including the latest defense request to move the trial out of Massachusetts. The defense has repeatedly argued Mr. Tsarnaev can’t get a fair trial in Boston, and the judge has denied each request.
On Tuesday, a total of 64 jurors, known only by their number, sat quietly on benches in the courtroom while attorneys for both sides huddled quietly, passing around paperwork and exercising their right to cut 23 jurors per side without giving a reason. Mr. Tsarnaev, dressed in a gray blazer, appeared engaged in the process, holding a pen and talking closely with his attorney Miriam Conrad.
Jim Frias, a 41-year-old Pepsi delivery driver who was sent home Tuesday, said he was relieved he wasn’t named for the jury. “You have a family and kids, you want to be home with them,” he said while leaving the federal courthouse.
Write to Jon Kamp at
jon.kamp@wsj.com<mailto:jon.kamp@wsj.com>
