Court: Marathon Bombing Trial Will Stay in Boston

Though dissenting judge thinks it's 'absurd'
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 28, 2015 6:06 AM CST
Court: Marathon Bombing Trial Will Stay in Boston
In this Jan. 5, 2015, courtroom sketch, Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is depicted beside U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr.   (AP Photo/Jane Flavell Collins, File)

Bostonians will decide the fate of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, an appeals court ruled yesterday. The three-judge panel rejected a defense request to change the venue on the grounds that the alleged marathon bomber couldn't get a fair trial there, reports the Boston Globe. “Every potential juror in the Eastern Division of Massachusetts is automatically disqualified, he maintains," the ruling states. "That alone is a remarkable assumption about the five million people in the Eastern Division and one much to be doubted.”

One of the three judges dissented, calling it "absurd" to think that a fair trial is possible in Boston. "If a change of venue is not required in a case like this, I cannot imagine a case where it would be." Meanwhile, jury selection continues, with Judge George O'Toole Jr. having picked 61 potential jurors so far, reports Yahoo News. Once he gets to a pool of 70, attorneys for both sides will whittle it down to 12 jurors and six alternates, and opening arguments will get underway. (More Boston Marathon bombing stories.)

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